iiMy!M''''"j< 


THE  PARABLES  OF 
THE  KINGDOM 


BY 

G.  CAMPBELL  MORGAN,  D.D. 


New  York       Chicago       Toronto 

Fleming  H.  Revell  Company 

London         and         Edinburgh 


Copyright,  1907,  by 
FLEMING  H.  REVELL  COMPANY 


New  York:  158  Fifth  Avenue 
Chicago  :  80  Wabash  Avenue 
Toronto  :  25  Richmond  St.,  W. 
London  :  21  Paternoster  Square 
Edinburgh  :    100    Princes  Street 


CONTENTS 


The  Parabolic  Method 


PAGE 

9 


The  Scheme  of  the  Discourse 


29 


The  Parable  of  the  Seed 


51 


The  Parable  of  the  Darnel 


73 


The  Parable  of  the  Mustard  Seed 


93 


The  Parable  of  the  Leavened  Meal 


The  Parable  of  the  Hidden  Treasure 


131 


The  Parable  of  the  Pearl 


155 


The  Parable  of  the  Net 


179 


The  Parable  of  the  Householder 


201 


THE  PARABOLIC  METHOD 


"On  that  day  went  Jesus  out  of  the  house,  and  sat  by 
the  sea  side.  And  there  were  gathered  unto  Hi?n  great 
multitudes,  so  that  He  entered  into  a  boat,  and  sat;  and 
all  the  multitude  stood  on  the  beach.  And  He  spake  to 
them  many  things  in  parables." — Matthew  xiii,  1-3A. 

*'And  the  disciples  came,  and  said  unto  Him,  Why 
speakest  Thou  unto  them  in  parables^  And  He  an- 
swered and  said  unto  them.  Unto  you  it  is  given  to 
Isnow  the  mysteries  of  the  Kingdom  of  Heaven,  but  to 
them  it  is  not  given.  For  whosoever  hath,  to  him  shall 
be  given,  and  he  shall  have  abundance:  but  whosoever 
hath  not,  from  him  shall  be  taken  away  even  that  which 
he  hath.  Therefore  speak  I  to  them  in  parables;  be- 
cause seeing  they  see  not,  and  hearing  they  hear  not, 
neither  do  they  understand.  And  unto  them  is  fulfilled 
the  prophecy  of  Isaiah,  which  saith, 

"By  hearing  ye  shall  hear,  and  shall  in  no  wise  under- 
stand; 
And  seeing  ye  shall  see,  and  shall  in  no  wise  perceive: 
For  this  people's  heart  is  waxed  gross, 
And  their  ears  are  dull  of  hearing, 
And  their  eyes  they  have  closed; 
Lest  haply  they  should  perceive  with  their  eyes. 
And  hear  with  their  ears, 
And  understand  with  their  heart, 
And  should  turn  again, 
And  I  should  heal  them. 

But  blessed  are  your  eyes,  for  they  see;  and  your  ears, 
for  they  hear." — Vers.  10-16. 

"All  these  things  spake  Jesus  in  parables  unto  the 
multitudes;  and  without  a  parable  spake  He  nothing 
unto  them:  that  it  anight  be  fulfilled  which  was  written 
by  the  prophet,  saying, 

I  will  open  my  mouth  in  parables; 

I  will  utter  things  hidden  from  the  foundation  of  the 

world." — Vers.  34,  35. 

"And  it  came  to  pass,  when  Jesus  had  finished  these 
parables,  He  departed  thence" — Ver.  53. 


THE  PARABOLIC  METHOD 

The  thirteenth  chapter  of  Matthew  is  neces- 
sarily full  of  interest  to  all  students  of  the 
teaching  of  Jesus.  In  it  we  have  a  setting 
forth  of  truth  concerning  the  establishment  and 
progress  of  the  Kingdom  of  Heaven  in  this 
age.  Any  study  of  it,  therefore,  which  is  to 
be  of  real  value,  necessitates  a  careful  con- 
sideration of  its  scope  and  method.  Of  the 
parabolic  nature  of  the  latter,  the  present  dis- 
course proposes  to  treat;  the  scope  and  scheme 
of  the  chapter  will  be  dealt  with  later. 

There  is,  however,  one  matter  concerning 
this  scheme,  which  should  at  once  be  stated  as 
guide  to  the  whole  method  of  consideration  to 
be  followed.  In  this  series  the  chapter  is  to 
be  regarded  as  constituting  a  set  discourse  of 
Jesus,  and  not  as  a  collection  of  truths  taken 
from  the  Saviour's  teaching  at  different  times, 
0 


10      THE    PARABOLIC    METHOD 

and  set  forth  according  to  Matthew  as  a  con- 
secutive discourse.  Dean  Alford's  words  on 
the  subject  may  be  quoted  as  giving  one  simple 
and  yet  sufficient  reason  for  holding  this  view. 

The  seven  parables  related  in  this  chapter  cannot  be 
regarded  as  a  collection  made  by  the  evangelist,  as  re- 
lated to  one  subject,  the  Kingdom  of  Heaven  and  its 
development;  they  are  clearly  indicated  by  verse  53 
to  have  been  all  spoken  on  one  and  the  same  occasion* 
and  form  indeed  a  complete  and  glorious  whole  in  their 
inner  and  deeper  sense. 

From  the  chapter  we  have  selected  portions 
which  constitute  its  framework  rather  than  its 
essential  message.  The  King  was  approaching 
the  great  crisis  in  His  propaganda,  when  it 
would  be  necessary  for  Him  to  challenge  His 
disciples  as  to  the  result  of  His  mission,  and 
their  opinion  concerning  Him.  In  view  of  this, 
and  in  all  probability  in  preparation  for  it,  He 
uttered  this  parabolic  discourse,  which  is  in 
large  measure  illuminated  by  the  experiences 
of  His  ministry,  and  which  illuminates  the 
future  for  them  in  the  matter  of  their 
ministry. 

Let  us  first  briefly  examine  this  group  of 
*  The  italics  are  Dean  Alford's. 


THE    PARABOLIC    METHOD      11 

Scriptures  which  forms  the  foundation  of  our 
present  study. 

Verses  1-3  a.  We  first  see  the  King  as  He 
emerges  from  the  house  in  which  He  had  been 
holding  communion  with  His  disciples,  and 
taking  the  seat  of  a  teacher  by  the  sea.  Multi- 
tudes gathered  about  Him,  and  "He  spake  to 
them  many  things  in  parables." 

Verses  10-16.  In  the  midst  of  this  dis- 
course, indeed,  after  the  first  of  the  parables, 
His  disciples  approached  Him  and  asked, 
"Why  speakest  Thou  unto  them  in  parables?" 
Then  follows  the  answer  which  He  gave  to 
them,  and  which  contains  for  us  His  own  ex- 
planation of  His  method. 

Verses  34,  35.  At  the  close  of  the  account 
of  the  parables  addressed  to  the  multitudes, 
Matthew  carefully  declares  the  fact  that  here 
He  adopted  the  method  of  parable,  and  an- 
nounces His  reason  for  doing  so. 

Verse  53.  The  last  verse  (53)  read  in  con- 
nection with  the  first  three,  reveals  the  bound- 
aries of  the  discourse. 

The  question  of  the  disciples,  "Why  speakest 


12      THE    PARABOLIC    METHOD 

Thou  unto  them  in  parables  ?"  is  our  own  ques- 
tion as  we  commence  our  study  of  this  dis- 
course. Perhaps  we  shall  best  be  able  to  under- 
stand the  answer  as  we  look  at  the  question  in 
its  context  of  time  and  circumstance.  It  seems 
evident  that  at  this  point  in  His  ministry  Jesus 
commenced  practically  a  new  method.  So  far 
as  it  is  possible  for  us  to  trace  chronologically 
the  story  of  that  ministry,  it  becomes  evident 
that  He  had  already  made  some  use  in  His 
teaching  of  the  parable-method,  but  that  He 
now  pressed  it  into  the  service,  and  employed 
it  supremely.  I  think  the  disciples  noticed  the 
change,  and  therefore  asked  Him  the  question. 
He  had  usually  spoken  with  perfect  plainness 
and  definiteness;  now  He  began  to  present 
truth  in  the  garb  of  the  parable. 

Perhaps  the  force  of  their  question  is  to  be 
discovered  by  placing  the  emphasis  upon  the 
words  ''unto  them,"  for  in  answer,  Jesus  im- 
mediately said,  ''Unto  you  it  is  given  to  know 
the  mysteries  of  the  Kingdom  of  Heaven,  but 
to  them  it  is  not  given."  If  this  contrast  be- 
tween the  multitudes  and  themselves  were  in 


^HE    PARABOLIC    METHOD      13 

their  mind,  and  if  it  were  a  real  one  as  the 
reply  of  Jesus  would  lead  us  to  think,  it  must 
still  be  remembered  that  before  the  discourse 
was  finished.  He  addressed  Himself  to  them 
also  in  parables.  I  draw  attention  to  this 
anew,  in  order  that  we  may  at  once  understand 
that  whatever  was  the  reason  of  His  adopting 
the  parabolic  method  with  the  multitudes,  it 
obtained  also  in  some  degree  at  that  time  in 
the  case  of  His  own  disciples. 

We  are  not  left  to  any  speculation  as  to  the 
meaning  of  the  method.  The  King  answered 
their  question,  and  His  explanation  of  His  own 
method  must  be  accepted.  It  is,  however,  of 
such  a  nature  as  to  demand  a  very  careful  con- 
sideration, or  it  may  be  entirely  misinter- 
preted. I  utter  this  word  of  warning  because 
I  am  convinced  that  it  often  is  sadly  misinter- 
preted, and  much  of  its  most  tender  purpose 
lost  thereby. 

Let  us  first  inquire  into  the  meaning  of  the 
word  parable.     Literally,  it  is  a  throwing  or     ^^^^^<^t-^ 
placing  of  things  side  by  side,  with  the  sugges- 
tion of  comparison.     Something  is  placed  by 

\ 


14      THE    PARABOLIC    METHOD 

the  side  of  something  else,  with  the  intention  of 
explaining  the  one  by  the  other.  Such  a 
method  is  that  of  the  parable.  The  old  and 
simple  definition  which  many  of  us  remember 
from  the  days  of  our  childhood,  comes  back  to 
us — *'A  parable  is  an  earthly  story  with  a 
heavenly  meaning;"  that  is  to  say,  some  fa- 
miliar thing  of  earth  is  placed  alongside  of 
some  mysterious  thing  of  Heaven  that  our 
understanding  of  the  one  may  help  us  to  an 
understanding  of  the  other.  The  method  is 
that  of  taking  some  one  set  of  facts,  familiar 
and  material,  and  making  them  explanatory  of 
others,  strange  and  spiritual.  Invariably  in  the 
teaching  of  Jesus  a  parable  was  a  picture  of 
things  seen,  intended  to  reveal  and  explain 
things  unseen,  and  a  rapid  glance  over  this 
chapter  will  show  how  the  King  made  use  of 
the  things  that  were  most  common  in  the  ex- 
perience of  those  amongst  whom  He  was 
teaching  for  this  purpose.  I  do  not  suppose 
that  if  Jesus  were  teaching  in  London  to-day 
He  would  use  any  of  the  comparisons  He  used 
then;  He  would  rather  draw  attention  to  the 


THE    PARABOLIC    METHOD       15 

commonest  sights  of  the  city  Hfe,  and  use  them 
as  illustrations.  All  the  parables  of  this  chap- 
ter were  events  under  the  actual  observation  or 
within  the  immediate  experience  of  the  men 
He  was  teaching.  Perhaps  even  then  in  the 
distance  a  sower  may  have  been  seen  scattering 
his  seed.  The  field  sown  with  wheat  and 
intermixed  with  darnel  was  one  of  the  most 
familiar  things  to  them  from  boyhood.  The 
mustard  tree,  about  which  we  know  so  little, 
they  knew  full  well.  The  woman  hiding  the 
leaven  in  the  meal  was  an  everyday  home  pic- 
ture. Treasure  found  in  the  field  was  not  so 
common,  but  still  not  unknown,  and  so  with 
the  merchant  seeking  pearls.  The  fisherman 
with  his  net,  with  the  householder  of  the  final 
parable  were  perhaps  the  most  familiar  of  all. 
We  are  a  little  shocked  in  the  present  day  if 
ministers  preach  on  subjects  such  as  ^'wireless 
telegraphy,"  ''road-making,"  or  even  ''Baxter's 
Second  Innings;"  and  yet,  is  not  this  method 
of  the  parable  Christ's  own  method?  I  freely 
confess  my  own  inability  to  such  form  of  teach- 
ing.     I  dare  not  attempt  a  method  so  delicate 


16      THE    PARABOLIC    METHOD 

and  beautiful.  I  have  no  hesitation,  however, 
in  saying  that  if  Jesus  were  in  London,  He 
would  take  as  His  illustrations  the  common 
things  of  the  streets  and  the  newspaper,  and 
use  them  as  the  mirrors  of  eternal  truth. 

In  the  use  of  the  parable  it  is  always  neces- 
sary to  emphasize  the  teaching  of  similarity 
and  disparity.  The  similarity  of  principle  is 
emphasized  by  the  recognition  of  disparity. 
I  say  this  in  order  to  warn  the  youngest  Bible 
student.  To  forget  the  teaching  of  disparity 
is  to  fall  into  the  terrible  blunder  of  fanciful 
interpretation.  Perhaps  an  illustration  of 
what  I  mean  at  this  point  will  be  helpful.  I 
distinctly  remember  in  my  boyhood's  days 
hearing  an  excellent  man  preach  from  the 
parable  of  the  Good  Samaritan,  and  to  me, 
though  a  lad,  the  whole  thing  was  so  grotesque 
that  for  many  years  I  was  afraid  to  try  and 
talk  about  the  parables  at  all.  He  informed 
us  that  Jesus  was  represented  by  the  Good 
Samaritan,  and  the  man  fallen  among  thieves 
was  the  sinner.  I  am  not  sure  that  even  these 
applications  are  warranted,  but  now  the  folly 


THE    PARABOLIC    METHOD      17 

of  attempting  to  carry  out  all  the  facts  of  the 
picture  will  be  seen  when  I  tell  you  that  he  pro- 
ceeded to  declare  that  the  inn  was  the  Church, 
the  inn-keeper  the  Holy  Spirit,  and  the  two 
pence  represented  food  and  raiment,  where- 
with we  are  to  be  content  during  "the  little 
while."  This  is  a  conspicuous  example  of  how 
not  to  deal  with  parables.  We  must  watch  for 
similarity  of  principle  and  disparity  of  detail. 
The  question  now  naturally  arises  as  to  why 
Jesus  adopted  this  parabolic  method  of  teach- 
ing. What  was  His  intention?  Let  me  an- 
swer first  by  a  simple  statement  based  upon 
what  we  have  already  seen.  The  purpose  of  thes  ^f^^^^fhn^^ 
parable  is  that  of  revelation  by  illustration,  and 
the  method  is  always  intended  to  aid  and  never 
to  hinder  understanding.  I  have  made  this 
statement  thus  of  set  purpose  in  order  to  arrest 
the  attention.  I  know  of  nothing  more  curious, 
and  at  the  same  time  more  pernicious,  than  a 
certain  interpretation  of  the  motive  which  the 
King  had  in  His  use  of  parables,  and  I  feel  that 
it  is  of  the  greatest  importance  that  we  should 
avoid  it.     I  refer  to  the  view  that  our  Lord 


18      THE    PARABOLIC    METHOD 

adopted  the  parabolic  method  with  His  hearers 
because  He  had  abandoned  them  in  anger,  and 
that  His  purpose  was  to  hide  His  truth  so  that 
they  should  not  see  it.  This  I  most  strenu- 
ously deny  to  be  true.  Christ  never  adopted 
any  method  characterized  by  such  subtlety  and 
cruelty.  He  never  professed  to  be  teaching 
men  while  at  the  same  time  He  was  resolutely 
attempting  to  hide  truth  from  them.  To 
charge  Him  with  doing  so  would  be  to  charge 
Him  with  dishonesty.  The  parable  is  an  aid, 
not  a  hindrance.  It  veils  truth,  not  that  men 
may  not  grasp  it,  but  that  it  shall  not  escape 
them.  There  is  a  sense  in  which  the  sun  is 
hidden  by  the  piece  of  smoked  glass  which  the 
boy  holds  before  his  eyes,  and  yet  without  such 
an  instrument  he  could  not  look  upon  the  sun 
at  all.  Essential  light  unveiled,  blinds.  Its 
veiling  is  the  opportunity  of  vision. 

It  is  not,  however,  for  us  to  speculate,  but 
to  hear  what  the  King  Himself  said  in  answer 
to  the  disciples'  inquiry.  Let  us,  however, 
hear  all  He  says,  not  contenting  ourselves  with 
His  first  sentence,  but  giving  attention  to  His 


THE    PARABOLIC    METHOD      19 

whole  explanation.  In  answer  to  the  inquiry, 
"Why  speakest  Thou  unto  them  in  parables? 
He  said  unto  them,  Unto  you  it  is  given  to 
know  the  mysteries  of  the  Kingdom  of  Heaven, 
but  to  them  it  is  not  given."  That  is  the  first  1 
part  of  His  answer,  and  though  I  am  not  going  | 
to  make  the  mistake  of  treating  the  warning 
uttered  as  the  whole  of  His  answer,  it  is  yet 
well  to  pause  over  the  first  sentences.  If  Jesus 
had  said  no  more  than  this,  I  should  have  made 
the  deduction  which  I  maintain Jias  often  been 
falsely  made.  I  should  have  understood  Him 
to  mean  that  He  was  compelled  to  use  the 
method  of  the  parable  in  speaking  to  these 
people  because  it  was  intended  that  they  should 
not  know  the  truths  concealed.  Having  made 
such  a  deduction,  I  should  have  been  sorely 
perplexed.  The  whole  meaning  of  His  mission  j 
was  that  of  giving  men  *'to  know  the  mysteries 
of  the  Kingdom,"  and  why  at  any  time  should 
He  use  a  method  ordinarily  employed  for  il- 
lumination, in  order  to  obviate  His  first  inten- 
tion of  revelation,  and  produce  exactly  opposite 
effects  in  His  hearers? 


20      THE    PARABOLIC    METHOD 

But  let  us  follow  Him  further,  and  the  mean- 
ing of  the  first  statement  becomes  apparent. 
"For  whosoever  hath,  to  him  shall  be  given, 
and  he  shall  have  abundance :  but  whosoever 
hath  not,  from  him  shall  be  taken  away  even 
that  which  he  hath."  Note  most  carefully  the 
contrast  of  which  this  is  an  explanation. 
''Unto  you  it  is  given  ...  to  them  it  is  not 
given."  Now  the  explanation.  ''Whosoever 
hath,  to  him  shall  be  given."  He  declared  that 
it  was  given  to  His  disciples  to  know  the  mys- 
teries. Why  was  this  knowledge  given  to 
them?  According  to  the  Teacher's  explana- 
tion it  was  because  of  something  they  already 
possessed.  Bearing  that  in  mind,  turn  to  the 
contrasted  position.  "But  whosoever  hath 
not,  from  him  shall  be  taken  away  even  that 
which  he  hath."  He  declared  it  was  not  given 
to  these  men  to  know  the  mysteries.  Why  was 
_that.. knowledge  denied?  According  to  His 
own  explanation  it  was  because  of  something 
they  lacked.  These  men  lacked  that  which  the 
disciples  possessed,  the  possession  of  which 
created  in  them  a  capacity  for  receiving  the 


THE    PARABOLIC    METHOD      21 

mysteries  of  the  Kingdom.  It  was  not  there- 
fore possible  for  them  to  grasp  these  mysteries, 
and  even  what  understanding  they  did  possess, 
they  were  in  danger  of  losing.  _. 

What,  then,  did  the  disciples  of  Jesus  pos- 1 
sess  which  these  men  lacked?  In  order  to 
answer  that  question  let  us  take  it  in  another 
form.  What  was  the  essential  difference  be- 
tween the  disciples  and  the  rulers  and  multi- 
tudes standing  around?  Did  it  not  lie  here, 
that  the  disciples  had  received  Jesus  as  King, 
and  by  reason  of  that  action  and  their  attitude 
towards  Him  had  become  able  to  receive  the 
mysteries  of  His  Kingdom? 

The  people,  notwithstanding  His  ministry, 
had  rejected  Him  up  to  this  time,  and  there- 
fore He  could  not  give  to  them,  nor  could  they 
have  received,  the  mysteries  of  the  Kingdom. 
To  the  men  who  had  crowned  Him,  He  be- 
longed; and  all  the  principles  and  privileges  of 
the  Kingdom  they  were  able  to  appreciate  and 
possess.  The  others  had  so  far  refused  their 
allegiance  and  were  therefore  unable  to  see,  or 
enter  into,  the  Kingdom. 


22      THE    PARABOLIC    METHOD 

If  we  go  further  back  for  a  moment,  we 
may  state  the  case  thus.  All  these  men  among 
whom  the  ministry  of  Jesus  had  been  exer- 
cised had  preliminary  knowledge  of  the  ways 
of  God  as  a  result  of  the  religion  in  which  they 
had  been  born  and  trained.  In  fulfilment  of  the 
messages  of  their  own  Scriptures  He  had  come. 
Certain  of  them  had  received  Him,  others  of 
them  had  rejected  Him.  To  those  receiving 
Him  were  given  the  mysteries  of  the  Kingdom. 
To  those  rejecting  Him  these  messages  could 
not  be  given,  and  they  were  in  danger  of  losing 
the  real  value  of  all  that  they  had  gained 
through  their  early  religious  training.  Now 
with  these  men  to  whom  are  denied  the  secrets 
of  the  Kingdom,  because  of  their  disloyalty 
to  the  King,  Jesus  adopts  a  new  method.  He 
will  give  them  pictures  to  lure  them  toward  the 
truth. 

Follow  Him  still  further,  'Therefore  speak 
I  to  them  in  parables;  because  seeing  they  see 
not,  and  hearing  they  hear  not,  neither  do  they 
understand.  And  unto  them  is  fulfilled  the 
prophecy  of  Isaiah,  which  saith, 


THE    PARABOLIC    METHOD      23 

By  hearing  ye  shall  hear,  and  shall  in  no  wise  under- 
stand; 
And  seeing  ye  shall  see,  and  shall  in  po  wise  perceive." 

That  was  the  ancient  prophecy  of  Isaiah,  and 
Christ  declares  that  it  was  fulfilled  in  the  case 
of  the  people  to  whom  the  mysteries  of  the 
Kingdom  were  ''not  given."  They  were  the 
people  that  hearing,  did  not  understand;  see- 
ing, could  not  see,  nor  perceive.  Upon  whom 
is  the  blame  of  their  blindness  and  deafness  to 
be  laid  ?  In  answer  to  this  inquiry,  let  us  con- 
tinue the  quotation  as  Christ  continued  it. 

For  this  people's  heart  is  waxed  gross, 

And  their  ears  are  dull  of  hearing, 

And  their  eyes  they  have  closed ; 

Lest  haply  they  should  perceive  with  their  eyes, 

And  hear  with  their  ears. 

And  understand  with  their  heart, 

And  should  turn  again, 

And  I  should  heal  them. 

Now  in  this  passage  the  heart  of  the  whole 
subject  is  laid  bare.  Christ  declares  in  effect 
that  these  people  did  not  see  the  things  that  His 
disciples  saw.  They  saw  without  seeing,  they 
heard  without  hearing.  And  why?  They  had 
shut  their  eyes  lest  they  should  see,  and  they 
had  stopped  their  ears  lest  they  should  hear. 


24       THE    PARABOLIC    METHOD 

They  had  rejected  the  King  at  the  commence- 
ment of  His  ministry,  and  without,  the  King 
they  had  no  key  to  the  mysteries  of  the  King- 
dom. 

Because  of  this  dulness  consequent  upon 
disobedience  He  now  proceeded  to  address 
them  in  parables.  Nowhere  is  the  infinite  pity 
of  the  heart  of  God,  revealed  in  Jesus  Christ, 
more  beautifully  seen  than  in  these  parables. 
The  people  were  half  intoxicated  and  slumber- 
ing in  grossness  consequent  upon  wilful  shut- 
ting of  their  eyes;  and  He  by  the  parabolic 
method  attempted  to  arouse  them.  We  should 
be  perfectly  justified  if  in  all  reverence  we 
described  this  method  of  the  Master  as  that  of 
the  kindergarten.  The  people  did  not  under- 
stand the  principle.  Their  eyes  were  heavy, 
and  their  ears  were  shut  because  they  did  not 
want  to  understand.  They  were  afraid  of  what 
they  might  see  and  hear,  if  they  were  obedient 
to  the  first  things  He  had  said  to  them.  JThere- 
fore  had  they  closed  their  eyes  and  ears  and 
hearts  against  Him,  and  so  were  missing  the 
infinite  music  of  His  teaching.    To  such  people 


THE    PARABOLIC    METHOD      25 

He  turns  once  more  as  though  He  would  say, 
If  you  will  not  hear  the  essential  things  of 
which  I  come  to  speak,  let  Me  talk  to  you  of 
the  things  with  which  you  are  familiar,  the 
earthly  things.  In  His  heart  was  the  purpose 
of  revealing  the  heavenly  meaning  through  the 
earthly  symbol. 

We  have  all  seen  a  skilful  teacher  arrest  a 
class  with  a  story.  Here,  then,  is  the  vision  of 
the  great  Teacher,  talking  in  parables,  not  in 
order  that  these  men  might  not  see,  nor  hear, 
nor  feel,  but  in  order  to  constrain  them  to  a 
willingness  to  see  and  hear  and  feel.  So  far  as 
we  are  concerned,  herein  lies  the  vindication  of 
every  method  which  in  itself  is  upright  and 
pure — that  it  will  make  men  listen.  A  flag, 
a  brass  band,  a  picture,  a  story,  anything  to 
awaken  the  wilfully  blind  and  godless  age. 
Men  are  as  much  asleep  to-day  as  they  ever 
were.  Seeing,  they  still  see  not;  and  hearing, 
they  hear  not ;  and  we  still  need  the  parable,  the 
picture,  to  awaken  them,  and  make  them  think. 
Presently  we  shall  see  that  Jesus  had  to  use  the  i 
same  method  with  His  disciples,  and  for  the 


; 


26      THE    PARABOLIC    METHOD 

self-same  reason.  Their  vision  was  not  yet 
perfectly  clear,  for  they  had  not  yet  absolutely 
surrendered  everything  to  His  Kingship. 
There  are  things,  therefore,  which  He  could 
only  interpret  to  them  in  this  way,  but  I  think 
we  shall  feel,  as  we  study  the  parables  He 
made  use  of  in  the  case  of  His  disciples,  that 
they  were  more  delicate,  more  beautiful,  finer 
in  texture  than  those  He  used  in  addressing  the 
multitudes. 

This  preliminary  study  has  as  its  intention  a 
strong  desire  to  redeem  the  method  of  the  Mas- 
ter from  very  grievous  misinterpretation.  The 
parable  is  always  the  method  of  Infinite  Love. 
It  is  the  method  adopted  in  grace  to  meet  the 
need  of  near-sightedness.  All  that  it  suggests 
to  us  is  ultimately  interpreted  and  enlarged  by 
more  direct  teaching.  We  are  then  to  look  in 
the  series  of  pictures  presented  in  this  chapter, 
for  figurative  illustration  of  essential  truth  con- 
cerning His  Kingdom,  and  in  doing  so  we  must 
be  careful  to  remember  His  purpose,  and  to 
watch  constantly  for  the  teaching  of  similarity 
and  disparity. 


THE  SCHEME  OF  THE  DIS- 
COURSE 

''Behold,  the  sower  went  forth  to  sow;  and  as  he 
sowed,  some  seeds  fell  by  the  way  side,  and  the  birds 
came  and  devoured  them:  and  others  fell  upon  the 
rocky  places,  where  they  had  not  much  earth:  and 
straightway  they  sprang  up,  because  they  had  no  deep- 
ness of  earth:  and  when  the  sun  was  risen,  they  zvere 
scorched;  and  because  they  had  no  root,  they  wnthered 
away.  And  others  fell  upon  the  thorns;  and  the  thorns 
grew  up,  and  choked  them:  and  others  fell  upon  the 
good  ground,  and  yielded  fruit,  some  a  hundredfold, 
some  sixty,  some  thirty." — Matthew  xiii.  3-8. 

"Another  parable  set  He  before  them,  saying.  The 
Kingdom  of  Heaven  is  likened  unto  a  man  that  sowed 
good  seed  in  his  Held:  but  while  men  slept,  his  enemy 
came  and  sowed  tares  also  among  the  wheat,  and  went 
away.  But  when  the  blade  sprang  up,  and  brought 
forth  fruit,  then  appeared  the  tares  also.  And  the 
servants  of  the  householder  came  and  said  unto  him. 
Sir,  didst  thou  not  sow  good  seed  in  thy  Held?  whence 
then  hath  it  tares?  And  he  said  unto  them,  An  enemy 
hath  done  this.  And  the  servants  say  unto  him.  Wilt 
thou  then  that  we  go  and  gather  them  up?  But  he  saith, 
Nay;  lest  haply  while  ye  gather  up  the  tares,  ye  root 
up  the  wheat  with  them.  Let  both  grow  together  until 
the  harvest:  and  in  the  time  of  the  harvest  I  will  say 
to  the  reapers,  Gather  up  iirst  the  tares,  and  bind  them 
in  bundles  to  burn  them:  but  gather  the  wheat  into  my 
barn. 


^'Another  parable  set  He  forth  before  them,  saying, 
The  Kingdom  of  Heaven  is  like  unto  a  grain  of  mustard 
seed,  which  a  man  took,  and  sowed  in  his  Held:  which 
indeed  is  less  than  all  seeds;  but  when  it  is  grown  it  is 
greater  than  the  herbs,  and  becometh  a  tree,  so  that  the 
birds  of  the  heaven  come  and  lodge  in  the  branches 
thereof. 

''Another  parable  spake  He  unto  them:  The  King- 
dom of  Heaven  is  like  unto  leaven,  which  a  woman 
took,  and  hid  in  three  measures  of  meal,  till  it  was  all 
leavened." — Vers.  24-33. 

"The  Kingdom  of  Heaven  is  like  unto  a  treasure 
hidden  in  the  field ;  which  a  man  found,  and  hid;  and  in 
his  joy  he  goeth  and  selleth  all  that  he  hath,  and  buyeth 
that  field. 

''Again  the  Kingdom  of  Heaven  is  like  unto  a  man 
that  is  a  merchant  seeking  goodly  pearls:  and  having 
found  one  pearl  of  great  price,  he  went  and  sold  all 
that  he  had,  and  bought  it. 

"Again  the  Kingdom  of  Heaven  is  like  unto  a  net,  that 
was  cast  into  the  sea,  and  gathered  of  every  kind:  which, 
when  it  was  tilled,  they  drew  up  on  the  beach;  and  they 
sat  down,  and  gathered  the  good  into  vessels,  but  the 
bad  they  cast  away.  So  shall  it  be  in  the  end  of  the 
world:  the  angels  shall  come  forth  and  sever  the  wicked 
from  among  the  righteous,  and  shall  cast  them  into  the 
furnace  of  tire:  there  shall  be  the  weeping  and  gnashing 
of  teeth."— Vers.  44-50. 

"Therefore  every  scribe  who  hath  been  a  disciple  to 
the  Kingdom  of  Heaven  is  like  unto  a  man  zvho  is  a 
householder,  which  bringeth  forth  out  of  his  treasure 
things  new  and  old." — Ver.  52. 


II 

THE  SCHEME  OF  THE  DISCOURSE 

In  this  discourse  we  have  the  King's  own  view 
of  His  Kingdom,  as  to  its  history  in  the  age 
which  He  initiated.  Many  mistakes  have  been 
made  in  the  interpretation  of  these  parables 
through  forgetfulness  of  the  Hmitation  of  the 
subject,  as  here  discussed.  To  imagine  that 
the  pictures  given  reveal  the  Kingdom  in  its 
deepest  meaning,  or  portray  its  ultimate  real- 
ization, is  to  utterly  misinterpret  the  value  and 
intention  of  the  scheme. 

The  Kingdom  of  God  in  its  fundamental 
ideal  and  ultimate  realization  is  infinitely 
greater  than  any  condition  revealed  in  the 
process  of  these  parables.  In  human  history 
there  have  been  already  different  phases  of 
manifestation,  and  various  degrees  of  realiza- 
tion of  that  Kingdom  amongst  men.  Beyond 
the  particular  age  in  which  we  live,  there  will 
29 


so  SCHEME    OF    THE    DISCOURSE 

be,  according  to  the  teaching  of  Scripture, 
manifestations  more  perfect  and  far  more 
glorious  than  anything  our  eyes  have  yet  seen. 
In  these  parables  the  King  deals  only  with  the 
manifestation  and  method  of  progress  in  this 
age  of  God's  Kingdom. 

The  first  parable  is  not  introduced  by  any 
direct  reference  to  the  Kingdom.  It  is  simply 
the  story  of  the  initial  work  of  sowing.  Then 
immediately  Jesus  proceeds  in  a  series  of  other 
parables  to  refer  to  the  issues  of  that  work 
throughout  the  age.  That  the  application  of 
these  parables  is  limited  to  the  age  He  initiated 
is  clearly  manifest  in  the  phrases  with  which 
the  King  introduces  each  parable,  excepting 
the  first  and  last.  The  second  parable,  that  of 
the  two  sowings,  is  introduced  by  the  words, 
''The  Kingdom  of  Heaven  is  likened  unto," 
and  the  remaining  ones  by  the  words,  ''The 
Kingdom  of  Heaven  is  like  unto."  The  first 
phrase  means  "The  Kingdom  of  Heaven  has 
become  like  unto,"  the  expression  suggesting 
the  changing  manifestations  of  the  Kingdom 
in  succeeding  generations.    The  second  phrase 


SCHEME    OF    THE    DISCOUKSE  31 

implies  simply  the  manifestation  of  the  King- 
dom in  the  generation  then  present. 

What  this  limit  of  application  is,  is  made 
perfectly  clear  as  the  discourse  proceeds. 
Twice  does  Jesus  refer  to  the  ''end  of  the 
world"  (vers.  39  and  49).  In  each  case  a  far 
more  correct  and  helpful  translation  is  that 
suggested  by  the  revisers  in  the  margin,  ''the 
consummation  of  the  age."  Thus  the  pictures 
of  the  Kingdom  are  pictures  of  conditions 
obtaining  between  the  moment  in  which  Jesus 
spoke  and  the  consummation  of  the  age — 
meaning  not  the  end  of  the  world  in  the  sense 
of  the  dissolution  of  the  material  universe,  but 
the  completion  of  the  period  which  began  with 
His  first  advent,  and  which  will  be  closed  by 
His  second. 

A  general  survey  of  the  discourse  reveals 
three  principal  divisions.  First  (vers.  1-35), 
"Jesus  went  out  of  the  house"  and  uttered  four 
parables  in  the  hearing  of  the  multitudes.  Sec- 
ond (vers.  36-50),  Jesus,  "left  the  multitudes, 
and  went  into  the  house,"  and  spoke  to  His 
disciples  parables  which  were  of  a  different 


32  SCHEME    OF    THE    DISCOURSE 

nature  from  those  already  spoken  to  the  crowd. 
Third  (vers.  51-53),  Jesus  addressed  Himself 
to  His  disciples  concerning  their  responsibility 
during  the  age. 

Of  these  parables  the  King  Himself  gave  the 
explanation  of  two.  In  each  case  the  explana- 
tion was  to  His  own  disciples. 

The  first  explanation,  that  of  the  parable  of 
the  sower,  was  given  in  the  hearing  of  the 
multitude.  The  second  explanation,  that  of  the 
two  sowings,  was  given  to  the  disciples  pri- 
vately. 

In  preparation  for  a  more  detailed  study  of 
the  parables,  it  is  of  great  importance  to  state 
certain  necessary  canons  of  interpretation.  Let 
me  first  name  these,  and  then  consider  them  a 
little  more  particularly. 

I.  Simplicity  of  interpretation,  for  re- 
membering the  intention  of  the  para- 
ble, the  simplest  interpretation  is  the 
most  likely  to  be  the  true  one. 
II.  Restriction  in  application  of  the  pic- 
tures to  the  limits  clearly  marked  by 
the  King. 


SCHEME    OF    THE    DISCOURSE  33 

in.     A    consistent    use    of    the    figurative 
terms  employed,  both  within  the  sys- 
tem and  with  the  general  use  of  Scrip- 
ture, except  where  specifically  other- 
wise stated. 
With  regard  to  the  first  canon,  it  is  quite 
possible  to  examine  these  parables  of  Jesus,  as 
it  is  possible  to  examine  His  miracles,  with  a 
desire  to  find  hidden  depths  and  hidden  mean- 
ings.    That  there  are  such  in  all  of  them,  I  do 
not  deny,  for  the  simplest  thing  Jesus  said  was 
in  itself  of  the  essence  of  eternal  truth,  and 
may  have  a  thousand  applications.     I   hold, 
however,  that  in  our  study  it  is  better  to  inter- 
pret them  in  the  light  of  the  multitudes  to 
whom  they  were  addressed.     Seeing  that  He 
spoke,  not  to  hide  spiritual  truth,  but  to  reveal 
it,  we  may  take  it  for  granted  that  the  sub- 
limest  meaning  is  also  the  simplest. 

As  regards  the  second,  it  must  be  remem- 
bered that  we  shall  utterly  miss  the  real  value 
of  this  discourse  if  we  attempt  to  make  any  of 
the  parables  include  the  whole  fact  of  the 
establishment    and    administration    of    God's 


34  SCHEME    OF    THE    DISCOURSE 

Kingdom.  We  must  recognize  from  the  be- 
ginning that  they  are  pictures  of  one  age,  and 
remember  that  that  age  is  not  final. 

Upon  the  third  canon  I  desire  to  lay  special 
emphasis.  The  figurative  terms  of  these  para- 
bles are  used  consistently  within  the  system. 
That  is  to  say  that  Jesus  was  true  to  His  own 
figures,  and  used  them  in  one  sense  only.  Per- 
sonally I  believe  that  to  be  a  principle,  not 
merely  in  the  teaching  of  Jesus,  but  throughout 
the  whole  of  Scripture.  I  am  convinced  that  to 
ignore  the  symbolism  of  numbers  and  colours 
and  forms  in  Scripture  is  to  lose  one  of  the 
most  interesting  keys  to  the  study  of  the  Word; 
but  I  think  many  of  the  fanciful  interpreta- 
tions of  many  parts  of  Scripture  would  have 
been  avoided  if  this  simple  principle  had  been 
observed.  So  important  do  I  hold  it  to  be 
that  I  desire  at  once  to  gather  out  from  the 
parables  some  of  the  figures  which  Jesus  used, 
and  which  at  first  sight  may  appear  to  have 
different  significations,  but  which,  as  a  matter 
of  fact,  have  always  the  same  value  and  inten- 
tion.   We  read  of  the  sower,  the  seed,  the  birds, 


SCHEME    OF    THE    DISOOUESE  35 

the  soil,  the  sun,  the  thorns,  the  fruit,  an  enemy, 
reapers  or  servants,  the  harvest,  a  tree,  leaven, 
meal,  a  woman,  treasure,  a  man,  a  merchant, 
a  pearl,  a  net,  the  seashore,  fish;  and  although 
some  of  these  illustrations  are  repeated  in  dif- 
ferent parables,  it  will  be  seen,  as  we  continue 
our  study  of  them,  that  their  significance  never 
changes.  The  figure  always  stands  for  the 
same  truth,  in  whatever  parable  it  is 
found. 

The  sower  is  found  in  three  parables,  in  the 
first,  in  that  of  the  darnel,  and  in  that  of  the 
mustard  seed,  and  when  we  come  to  their  par- 
ticular interpretation  we  shall  find  that  the 
sower  in  each  represents  the  same  Person,  the 
Son  of  Man. 

Again  in  the  same  connection,  we  find  the 
figure  of  seed  sown,  and  with  the  exception  of 
the  bad  seed,  which  is  distinctly  so  called  and 
thus  differentiated  from  the  other.  It  has  a  uni- 
form significance  in  all  connections. 

The  figure  of  birds  is  used  in  the  parable  of 
the  sower,  and  in  that  of  the  mustard  seed.  It 
is  a  mistake  to  interpret  it  as  symbolic  of  evil 


36  SCHEME    OF    THE    DISCOURSE 

in  the  first,  and  of  good  in  the  second.     In  both 

•    parables,  birds  are  symbols  of  evil. 

Again  the  soil  appears  in  the  parable  of  the 
sower,  in  that  of  the  darnel,  in  that  of  the 
mustard  seed,  and  in  that  of  the  treasure.  It 
has  always  the  same  meaning,  and  this  mean- 

i  ing  is  once  given,  "the  field  is  the  world." 
Fruit  is  found  in  the  parables  of  the  sower 
and  the  darnel,  and  in  each  case  must  be  inter- 
preted according  to  the  seed.  Reapers  or  ser- 
vants are  found  in  the  parables  of  the  darnel 
and  the  net,  and  in  each  case  represent  angels 
associated  at  the  end  of  the  age  in  administra- 
tive justice  with  the  King  Himself.  The  har- 
vest is  referred  to  in  the  parables  of  the  darnel 
and  of  the  net,  and  in  both  cases  refers  to  the 
end  of  the  age. 

Then  lastly  we  have  illustrations  which  do 
not  repeat  in  the  discourse,  but  which  are  used 
in  other  parts  of  the  Bible.  Thorns  are  here, 
as  everywhere,  symbols  of  evil.  A  tree  is  here, 
as  always,  a  symbol  of  great  and  wide-spread 
worldly  power.     As  in  every  other  case  in 

'  Scripture,  so  here,  leaven  must  be  the  type  of 


SCHEME    OF    THE    DISCOURSE  37 

evil.  The  meal  here  must  be  considered  as  the 
three  measures,  and  thus  its  identification  with 
the  meal  offering  of  the  ancient  economy  is 
seen.  Treasure  is  found  in  one  parable,  and  it 
can  only  be  explained  in  conjunction  with  the 
parable  of  the  pearl.  Thus  I  maintain  that  in 
order  to  an  understanding  of  these  matchless 
parables  of  Jesus,  we  must  recognize  the  per- 
fect consistency  of  Jesus  in  His  use  of  figures. 

Let  us  now  turn  to  a  general  survey  of  the 
main  divisions  and  particular  parables,  and  the 
teachings  contained  in  each.  The  first  four 
parables  (one  and  three)  were  spoken  wholly 
to  the  crowds,  and  reveal  the  Kingdom  from 
the  human  standpoint.  The  second  four  para- 
bles (three  and  one)  were  spoken  exclusively 
to  the  disciples,  and  represent  the  Kingdom 
from  the  Divine  standpoint.  First,  the  ex- 
ternal fact  of  the  Kingdom  in  the  four  para- 
bles for  the  crowd.  Secondly,  the  internal 
secret  of  the  Kingdom  in  four  parables  for  the 
disciples. 

Taking  the  first  four  we  find  running 
through  them  the  same  elements.    In  each  one 


38  SCHEME    OF    THE    DISCOURSE 

the  Lord  reveals  the  fact  of  antagonistic  prin- 
ciples, with  continued  conflict,  and  an  issue 
in  which  failure  apparently  predominates 
rather  than  success.  In  the  first  parable  there 
is  hindrance  in  the  soil.  In  the  second,  there 
is  opposition  on  the  part  of  an  enemy  who  by 
night  sows  counterfeit  seed  in  the  fielH.  In  the 
third,  there  is  seen  the  counter-development  of 
a  worldly  power  affording  shelter  and  protec- 
tion to  evil.  In  the  last  of  the  four  there  is 
revealed  an  alien  principle  which  makes  for 
disintegration  and  destruction. 

Thus  it  is  evident  that  these  four  parables  do 
not  give  us  the  picture  of  an  age  in  which  there 
is  to  be  a  greater  increase  of  goodness  until 
final  perfection  is  attained;  but  rather  one 
characterized  by  conflict,  and  one  in  which  it 
appears  as  though  evil  triumphed  rather  than 
good.  In  the  parable  of  the  sower  the  work  of 
the  King  is  revealed,  that  namely,  of  scattering 
seed  to  produce  Kingdom  results.  The  work 
of  the  enemy  is  manifested  in  his  attempt  to 
prevent  Kingdom  results  by  the  injury  of  the 
seed  through  the  soil  on  which  it  falls.    In  the 


SCHEME    OF    THE    DISCOURSE  39 

parable  of  the  two  sowings  the  work  of  the 
King  is  manifest  and  also  the  spoiling  work  of 
the  enemy  who  sows  the  same  field  with  darnel. 
In  the  parable  of  the  mustard  seed  which,  con- 
trary to  all  law,  produces  a  great  tree,  we  have 
a  revelation  of  an  unnatural  growth,  an  abor- 
tion, something  never  intended,  and  therefore 
lacking  the  true  elements  of  strength.  In  the 
leaven,  as  we  have  seen,  we  have  the  simplest 
symbol  of  corruption. 

These  were  among  the  strange  things  which 
Jesus  said  to  the  crowds,  and  we  can  best  test 
the  accuracy  of  this  interpretation  of  the  para- 
bles by  examining  the  history  of  the  past  nine- 
teen centuries.  We  may  then  see  how  per- 
fectly our  Lord  understood  the  age  which  He 
was  initiating.  It  is  most  important  to  re- 
member that  these  parables  do  not  give  us  pic- 
tures of  the  Church,  but  of  the  Kingdom  as 
realized  in  the  world,  showing  how  far  that 
realization  is  attained  in  the  present  dispensa- 
tion. The  subject  of  the  Church  is  quite  an- 
other, and  though  it  is  of  great  importance  as 
the  means  to  an  end  and  as  the  instrument  of 


40  SCHEME    OF    THE    DISCOURSE 

the  Kingdom,  yet  our  Lord  is  not  for  the  mo- 
ment deahng  with  it,  or  with  its  ultimate 
destination. 

Leaving  the  multitudes  by  the  sea,  the  King 
gathered  His  disciples  about  Him  in  the  house, 
and  proceeded  to  utter  to  them  parables  which 
were  not  for  the  crowd.  In  them  He  revealed 
one  activity,  that  of  the  King  Himself.  Here 
a  great  and  glorious  success  is  achieved  in  each 
case,  and  yet  there  is  discrimination.  There  is 
first  the  finding  of  treasure  in  a  field,  and  the 
purchase  of  the  field  to  possess  it.  By  no 
stretch  of  imagination  can  that  field  be  made 
the  picture  of  what  any  human  being  can  ever 
do.  He  Who  purchased  the  field  of  the  world 
is  not  a  rebellious  subject,  but  the  King  Him- 
self; and  the  treasure  hidden  is  that  latent  pos- 
sibility for  the  development  of  which  the  whole 
field  must  be  purchased.  So  also  in  the  next 
parable,  notwithstanding  all  our  exposition, 
and  singing 

I've  found  the  pearl  of  greatest  price! 

My  heart  doth   sing  for  joy; 
And  sing  I  must,  for  Christ  is  mine! 

Christ  shall  my  song  employ, 


SCHEME    OF    THE    DISCOURSE  41 

the  pearl  is  not  intended  to  represent  Christ. 
It  is  perfectly  true  that  to  find  Him  is  to  find 
the  chief  treasure  here,  but  that  is  not  the 
teaching  of  this  particular  parable.  When  we 
find  Him,  He  is  God's  free  gift  to  us,  but  this 
merchant  purchased  the  pearl,  selling  all  that 
he  had  to  do  it.  Finally,  in  the  parable  of  the 
net  no  workers  are  recognized  in  the  casting  of 
the  net  into  the  sea.  It  is  the  act  of  God  Him- 
self. At  the  end  of  the  age,  when  it  is  gath- 
ered in,  there  will  be  discrimination,  and  the 
measure  of  success  is  evidently  shown. 

We  have  then,  simply  and  rapidly  in  this 
study,  looked  merely  at  the  broad  outlines  of 
teaching.  In  order  to  accept  some  of  the  views 
indicated  it  will  perhaps  be  necessary  to  come 
to  the  more  detailed  teaching  concerning  these 
parables,  which  is  to  follow.  The  chief  interest 
at  this  moment  is  the  contrast  between  the 
parables  spoken  to  the  multitudes  and  those  to 
the  disciples.  To  the  crowds  He  declared  the 
facts  concerning  the  Kingdom  in  this  age, 
which  would  eventually  become  patent  to  out- 
ward observation.     When  He  gathered  His 


42  SCHEME    OF    THE    DISCOURSE 

disciples  about  Him  alone,  He  showed  them  the 
inside  truth.  While  there  may  appear  to  be  in 
the  passing  centuries  failure,  shortcoming,  the 
leavening  of  everything  that  should  be  pure, 
yet  through  all  such  failure  God  is  Himself 
gathering  out  His  treasure  and  finding  His 
pearl.  Not  that  He  will  neglect  the  field  when 
the  hidden  treasure  is  realized,  not  that  He  will 
count  as  worthless  all  beside  the  pearl,  for  He 
has  purchased  the  whole  field  and  recognizes 
the  preciousness  of  every  gem;  and  there  are 
other  dispensations  stretching  out  beyond  this, 
in  which  the  field  itself  will  be  realized,  and  He 
will  cast  out  of  His  Kingdom  everything  that 
offends. 

Finally  we  come  to  the  last  parable.  It  is 
interesting  to  remember  that  almost  invariably 
we  speak  of  the  seven  parables  of  the  thirteenth 
chapter  of  Matthew.  As  a  matter  of  fact  there 
are  eight.  Seven  of  them  reveal  truth  con- 
cerning the  Kingdom.  The  eighth,  which  is  as 
full  of  beauty  and  of  importance  as  any,  deals 
with  the  responsibility  of  those  who  know  the 
truth.    Having  uttered  the  seven  parables,  He 


SCHEME    OF    THE    DISCOURSE  43 

asked  His  disciples,  ''Have  ye  understood  all 
these  things?'*  One  is  almost  surprised  to 
read  their  answer.  'They  say  unto  Him, 
Yea."  I  do  not  suppose  for  a  moment  that 
they  did  understand  all,  but  they  saw  some 
little  way,  had  some  gleam  of  light,  had  in  all 
probability  caught  the  general  teaching  of  the 
discourse  in  both  its  private  and  more  public 
aspects.  The  King  knew  that  presently  they 
would  understand,  that  with  the  coming  of  the 
Spirit  there  would  come  perfect  illumination; 
and  with  infinite  patience  He  accepted  their 
confession,  and  proceeded  to  lay  upon  them  a 
charge  of  responsibility. 

This  general  survey  of  the  scheme  of  the 
King's  teaching  makes  evident  certain  matters 
of  present  and  pressing  importance.  We  must 
have  the  Master's  conception  of  our  age  if  we 
are  to  do  the  best  work  in  it  for  His  glory.  If 
our  eyes  are  set  upon  some  consummation 
which  He  did  not  expect,  then  what  can  we  ex- 
pect other  than  that  we  shall  be  heart-sick  ere 
long?  If,  on  the  other  hand,  we  accept  His 
view  and  consecrate  ourselves  to  its  realization, 


44  SCHEME   OF    THE    DISCOURSE 

then  we  shall  be  able  to  bear  ''the  burden  and 
heat  of  the  day,"  and  do  the  work  He  has  ap- 
pointed. It  is,  I  hold,  of  supreme  value  that 
we  should  understand  that  the  age  in  which  we 
serve  is  not  the  final  one.  These  pictures  reveal 
to  us  our  responsibility  for  our  day's  work  and 
no  more.  Beyond  the  end  of  the  age  to  which 
these  parables  apply,  are  other  ages  in  which 
God  will  make  use  of  new  methods  for  the  car- 
rying out  of  His  ultimate  purpose.  There  is  to 
be  as  distinct  a  difference  between  the  method 
beyond  the  second  advent  of  our  Lord  and  that 
of  this  age,  as  there  is  between  the  method  of 
this  age  and  that  preceding  the  first  advent. 
Let  us  never  make  the  mistake  of  circumscrib- 
ing Him,  or  of  imagining  that  things  will  de- 
velop in  any  way  other  than  according  to  His 
declaration.  To  put  the  matter  definitely  in 
one  simple  illustration.  I  do  not  think  that  the 
nerve  of  Christian  Missionary  endeavour  was 
ever  so  successfully  paralysed  as  when  some- 
where in  the  past  men  began  to  teach  that  the 
work  of  the  Church  was  that  of  converting  the 
world.     The    Bible    never    says    so.     Christ 


SCHEME    OF    THE    DISCOUKSE  45 

never  says  so.  We  have  lived  and  wrought 
all  too  long  as  though  there  lay  upon  us  the 
responsibility  of  bringing  all  the  world  by  the 
preaching  of  the  Gospel  into  subjection  to  Jesus 
Christ.  We  have  no  such  commission,  and  He 
never  charged  us  to  the  task.  I  do  not  wonder 
at  the  hopelessness  of  some  pamphlets  which 
were  issued  through  the  Press  a  few  years  ago 
on  the  failure  of  Christian  Missions.  But  the 
men  who  thus  wrote  had  mistaken  entirely  the 
teaching  of  Jesus  concerning  the  responsibility 
of  the  Church.  There  is  not  a  single  parable 
in  this  great  discourse,  excepting  perhaps  the 
parable  of  the  leaven,  which  can  by  any  means 
be  construed  into  meaning  that  the  world  is  to 
be  converted  by  a  gradual  process;  and  if  that 
parable  is  so  interpreted  it  can  only  be  by 
making  the  leaven  here  typify  what  it  never 
typifies  in  any  other  part  of  the  Bible;  and 
moreover,  by  making  this  parable  contradict 
the  teaching  of  all  the  rest. 

Having  said  so  much  regarding  the  Church's 
negative  responsibility,  I  must  add  a  word  on 
the  positive  side.    What  is  the  definite  work, 


46  SCHEME   OF    THE    DISCOURSE 

the  appointed  charge  of  the  Church  in  the 
world?  It  is  that  of  evangehzing  the  world, 
not  of  converting  it;  it  is  that  of  proclaiming 
the  Gospel  message  to  all  the  nations,  of  press- 
ing on  and  ever  on  until  the  last  tribe  has  heard 
the  good  news  in  its  own  tongue,  until  the 
glorious  evangel  has  sped  throughout  the 
whole  earth.  We  are  not  responsible  for  con- 
verting London;  we  are  responsible  that  all 
London  shall  hear  the  Gospel.  We  are  not 
responsible  for  converting  India,  China, 
Africa,  Madagascar,  the  islands  of  the  sea ;  we 
are  responsible  that  they  shall  hear  the  Gospel 
message.  When  we  have  fulfilled  our  respon- 
sibility, according  to  the  teaching  of  Jesus  there 
will  come  the  consummation  of  the  age,  and  the 
inauguration  of  a  new  order.  A  sifting  proc- 
ess will  follow  when  evil  things  will  be  burned 
up  out  of  the  Kingdom,  and  when  He  Who  has 
purchased  the  field  will  pass  through  His  terri- 
tory, not  for  the  casting  of  wicked  men  into 
hell,  but  that  He  may  destroy  all  defiling 
things  and  banish  oppression  and  tyranny.  Be- 
yond this  age  of  infinite  grace  in  which  He 


SCHEME    OF    THE    DISCOURSE  47 

calls  out  His  Church,  and  equips  her,  and  by 
her  influence  prepares  for  another  dispensation, 
is  the  age  of  the  strong  hand,  and  the  iron  rod, 
and  the  righteous  rule.  There  is  nothing  ter- 
rific in  that  save  to  evil-doers.  Nay,  verily,  but 
v^e  are  rather  sighing  amid  the  v^aiting  years, 
"Come  quickly. '*  We  long  for  the  rod  of  iron, 
for  the  balances  of  infinite  justice;  for  by  these 
will  the  world,  sinning,  sighing,  and  sorrow- 
ing, have  its  true  chance  of  righteousness  and 
justice. 

Yet  when  our  hearts  cry  out  for  His  coming, 
we  need  to  remember  that  it  is  for  us  to  hasten 
it  by  hearing  His  injunctions,  and  realizing 
that  in  this  present  age  our  work  is  to  press  on 
until  the  last  land  shall  have  had  the  light,  and 
the  last  soul  heard  the  message.  Beyond  that 
He  will  begin  a  new  work.  Let  us  then,  as  the 
years  pass  away,  be  ever  true  to  our  deposit 
and  our  responsibility,  knowing  that  God  will 
be  true  to  His;  then  shall  our  hearts  be  kept 
patient  and  steadfast,  as  we  seek  in  obedience 
to  His  mandates  to  bring  in  the  golden  age  of 
the  Kingdom  of  Heaven  among  men. 


THE  PARABLE  OF  THE  SEED 


*'Behold,  the  sower  went  forth  to  sow;  and  as  he 
sowed,  some  seeds  fell  by  the  way  side,  and  the  birds 
came  and  devoured  them:  and  others  fell  upon  the 
rocky  places,  where  they  had  not  much  earth:  and 
straightway  they  sprang  up,  because  they  had  no  deep- 
ness of  earth:  and  when  the  sun  was  risen,  they  were 
scorched;  and  because  they  had  no  root,  they  withered 
away.  And  others  fell  upon  the  thorns;  and  the  thorns 
grew  up,  and  choked  them:  and  others  fell  upon  the 
good  ground,  and  yielded  fruit,  some  a  hundredfold, 
some  sixty,  some  thirty.  He  that  hath  ears,  let  him 
hear.'' — Matthew  xiii.  3-9. 

''Hear  then  ye  the  parable  of  the  sower.  When  any 
one  heareth  the  word  of  the  Kingdom,  and  under- 
standeth  it  not,  then  cometh  the  evil  one,  and  snatcheth 
away  that  which  hath  been  sown  in  his  heart.  This  is 
he  that  was  sown  by  the  way  side.  And  he  that  was 
sown  upon  the  rocky  places,  this  is  he  that  heareth  the 
word,  and  straightway  with  joy  receiveth  it;  yet  hath  he 
not  root  in  himself,  but  endureth  for  a  while;  and  when 
tribulation  or  persecution  ariseth  because  of  the  word, 
straightway  he  stumbleth.  And  he  that  was  sozvn  among 
the  thorns,  this  is  he  that  heareth  the  word;  and  the 
care  of  the  world,  and  the  deceitfulness  of  riches,  choke 
the  word,  and  he  becometh  unfruitful.  And  he  that  was 
sown  upon  the  good  ground,  this  is  he  that  heareth  the 
word,  and  understandeth  it;  who  verily  beareth  fruit, 
and  bringeth  forth,  some  a  hundredfold,  some  sixty, 
some  thirty." — Verses  18-23. 


Ill 

THE  PARABLE  OF  THE  SEED 

This  first  parable  is  one  of  the  two  which  the 
King  explained.  He  evidently  considered  it  to 
be  fundamental,  for  He  said  that  if  men  were 
not  able  to  understand  this  one,  they  could  not 
understand  the  others.  Let  us  then  first  look 
at  the  picture  presented  in  the  parable,  sec- 
ondly attend  to  Christ's  explanation  thereof, 
and  finally  deduce  from  such  examination  the 
instruction  which  is  of  present  value. 

The  picture  is  a  perfectly  natural  one,  but 
the  naturalness  is  eastern  rather  than  western. 
Let  us  then  attempt  so  far  as  is  possible  to 
watch  the  eastern  sower  at  his  work.  Speak- 
ing of  this  particular  parable,  Dr.  Thomson 
says,  in  The  Land  and  the  Book,  describing 
what  he  actually  saw: — 

"  'Behold  a  sower  went  forth  to  sow.'    There  is  a  nice 
and  close  adherence  to  actual  life  in  this  form  of  ex- 
51 


62        PARABLE    OF    THE    SEED 

prcssion.  These  people  have  actually  come  forth  all 
the  way  from  Dahr-June  to  this  place.  The  expression 
implies  that  the  sower,  in  the  days  of  our  Saviour,  lived 
in  a  hamlet  or  village,  as  all  these  farmers  now  do; 
that  he  did  not  sow  near  his  own  house,  or  in  a  garden 
fenced  or  walled,  for  such  a  field  does  not  furnish  all 
the  basis  of  the  parable.  There  are  neither  roads  nor 
thorns  nor  stony  places  in  such  lots.  He  must  go  forth 
into  the  open  country  as  these  have  done,  where  there 
are  no  fences ;  where  the  path  passes  through  the  culti- 
vated land;  where  thorns  grow  in  clumps  all  around; 
where  the  rocks  peep  out  in  places  through  the  scanty 
soil ;  and  where  also,  hard  by,  are  patches  extremely 
fertile.  Now  here  we  have  the  whole  four  within  a 
dozen  rods  of  us.  Our  horses  are  actually  trampling 
down  some  seeds  which  have  fallen  by  the  wayside, 
and  larks  and  sparrows  are  busy  picking  them  up. 
That  man,  with  his  mattock,  is  digging  about  places 
where  the  rock  is  too  near  the  surface  for  the  plough, 
and  much  that  is  sown  there  will  wither  away,  because 
it  has  no  deepness  of  earth.  And  not  a  few  seeds 
have  fallen  among  this  bellan,  and  will  be  effectually 
choked  by  this  most  tangled  of  thorn  bushes.  But  a 
large  portion,  after  all,  falls  into  really  good  ground, 
and  four  months  hence  will  exhibit  every  variety  of 
crop." 

This  brief  paragraph  describing  what  may 
be  seen  any  day  in  Palestine  shows  us  how 
simple,  real,  and  direct  was  the  picture  to  the 
men  to  whom  Jesus  talked.  The  points  of  in- 
terest in  the  parable  are  the  sower,  the  seed,  the 
soil,  and  the  sequence.     One  man  is  sowing. 


PARABLi}   OF   THE   SEED       53 

He  sows  one  kind  of  seed.  That  seed  falls  on 
different  kinds  of  soil.  A  certain  sequence  or 
result  follows,  such  as  is  dependent  upon  the 
nature  of  the  soil.  That  is  the  simple  and  per- 
fectly familiar  picture  presented  by  the  para- 
ble to  those  who  heard  the  King's  words. 

Keeping  this  picture  in  view,  we  turn  our 
attention  to  the  King's  explanation.  In  doing 
so  there  are  one  or  two  preliminary  matters 
specially  to  be  noticed  before  attempting  a  close 
examination.  First,  Jesus  makes  no  reference 
to  the  sower.  He  gives  no  explanation  of  who 
the  sower  is.  The  chief  value  of  the  parable 
is  seen  in  the  fact  that  He  speaks  of  the  seed, 
and  of  the  relation  which  the  seed  bears  to  the 
soil.  Listening  to  the  parable  we  should  cer- 
tainly be  inclined  to  think  that  the  chief  lessons 
were  to  be  learnt  from  the  nature  of  the  soil. 
Indeed,  already  in  epitomizing  we  have  said 
that  the  sequence  depends  upon  the  soil. 
When  however  we  turn  to  Christ's  explana- 
tion, we  find  that  such  is  not  the  case,  but 
rather  that  the  chief  lessons  of  the  parable  are 
those    concerning    the    nature    of    the    seed. 


54        PARABLE    OP    THE    SEED 

Without  His  explanation  we  should  inevitably 
say  that  the  harvest  depends  upon  whether  the 
nature  of  the  soil  be  the  open  highway  or  the 
rocky  places  of  the  fields,  or  the  thorny  ground, 
or  the  fruitful  ground.  Jesus,  however,  lays 
no  emphasis  upon  the  soil,  but  all  emphasis 
upon  the  condition  of  the  seed  which  is  cast  into 
the  soil.  This  is  a  most  important  distinction 
to  be  kept  carefully  in  mind,  or  we  shall  con- 
tinue to  misinterpret  all  the  parables.  I  am 
aware  that  this  statement  may  seem  at  first  to 
obscure  the  vision  of  truth,  contradicting,  as  it 
does,  popular  conceptions  of  the  teaching  of 
this  parable.  Yet  it  is  only  as  this  guiding 
principle  is  observed,  that  we  shall  be  able  to 
discover  the  profoundest  and  most  remarkable 
teaching. 

Let  us  then  carefully  examine  His  explana- 
tion, following  Him  as  He  takes  each  of  the 
four  sowings  separately. 

''Hear  then  ye  the  parable  of  the  sower. 
When  any  one  heareth  the  word  of  the  King- 
dom and  understandeth  it  not,  then  cometh  the 
evil  one,  and  snatcheth  away  that  which  hath 


PARABLE    OF    THE    SEED        55 

been  sown  in  his  heart.  This  is  he  that  was 
sown  by  the  way  side."  Notice  most  carefully 
here  the  actual  words:  'This  is  he  that  was 
sown  by  the  way  side."  Not,  this  is  it,  but 
*Uis  is  he/' 

"And  he  that  was  sown  upon  the  rocky 
places,  this  is  he  that  heareth  the  word,  and 
straightway  with  joy  receiveth  it."  Again 
notice  the  words,  *'he  that  was  sown,"  not  it, 
but  he. 

"And  he  that  was  sown  among  the  thorns, 
this  is  he  that  heareth  the  word."  Once  more, 
"he  that  was  sown,"  not  it. 

*'And  he  that  was  sown  upon  the  good 
ground,  this  is  he  that  heareth  the  word." 
Thus  finally,  ''he  that  was  sown,"  not  it. 

We  have  generally  regarded  the  ''sower"  of 
this  parable  as  a  type  first  of  our  Lord  Himself, 
and  then  of  all  those  who  preach  the  word,  and 
the  seed  as  the  word  sown  in  the  hearts  of  men 
who  respond  to  it  in  different  ways  according 
to  their  nature.  This  is  a  treatment  of  the 
parable  which  contradicts  absolutely  Christ's 
own  explanation  of  it.    In  that  explanation  He 


56       PARABLE    OF    THE    SEED 

declares,  not  that  the  sowing  of  the  seed  is 
the  word  cast  into  the  heart  of  a  man,  but  that 
it  is  the  casting  of  a  man  into  a  certain  age  and 
generation.  The  sowing  here  referred  to  then, 
to  state  the  case  broadly,  is  the  sowing,  not  of 
truth,  but  of  men,  for  in  the  next  parable,  where 
the  Lord  again  takes  up  the  figure  of  sowing, 
He  distinctly  says  of  the  good  seed,  "These  are 
the  sons  of  the  Kingdom."  This  truth  is  em- 
phasized too  in  the  first  parable  by  the  fact  that, 
in  every  instance  in  His  explanation,  the  King 
said,  "he  that  was  sown." 

Take  a  broad  survey  of  this.  Remember  the 
two  studies  we  have  already  taken,  and  that 
our  Lord  is  describing  in  these  parables  the 
condition  of  the  Kingdom.  It  is  not  a  question 
of  the  creation  of  the  Church  by  the  gather- 
ing of  individual  men  to  Himself,  but  rather 
of  the  establishment  of  the  Kingdom.  Here, 
then,  is  the  method  of  His  work  during  this 
age — the  sowing  of  the  sons  of  the  Kingdom. 
Some  of  them  are  non-productive,  some  of 
them  productive.  Some  of  them  bring  forth 
fruit,  fruit  that  is  toward  the  Kingdom.    They 


PARABLE)   OF    THE    SEED        57 

influence  the  age,  creating  in  it  the  recognition 
of,  and  approximation  to,  the  government  of 
God.  Others  produce  no  such  fruit.  They 
are  men  who  come  into  contact  with  the 
thought  of  the  Kingdom  and  the  ideals  of  the 
Kingdom,  but  who  never  produce  the  fruit  of 
the  Kingdom,  The  keyword  of  the  explana- 
tion is  ''he  that  was  sown." 

There  is  besides  this  another  sowing,  that  of 
the  word  in  the  heart,  to  which  the  Lord  refers 
on  another  occasion;  but  that  is  not  the  subject 
of  this  parable.  The  seed  to  which  He  refers 
here  is  not  the  written  word,  but  an  incarnate 
word ;  that  is,  the  written  word  so  incorporated 
into  the  life  of  a  man  that  he  becomes  himself 
a  word,  a  seed  of  the  Kingdom.  Christ  is  not 
dealing  here  with  the  realization  in  personal 
life  of  the  purpose  and  principle  of  the  King- 
dom by  the  implanting  of  the  word.  He  is 
dealing  with  success  or  failure  in  the  realiza- 
tion of  the  ideals  of  the  Kingdom  through  the 
influence  of  the  men  who  are  sons  of  the  King- 
dom, and  who  therefore  have  become  fruitful 
seeds.    The  sowing  of  the  word  in  the  heart  of 


58        PARABLE    OF    THE    SEED 

a  man  is  the  introduction  of  the  principle  which 
makes  him  a  fruitful  seed  in  the  age.  This 
parable  begins  with  the  man  thus  prepared. 

Let  us  examine  our  Lord's  description  of 
these  seeds,  *'He  that  was  sown  by  the  way 
side."  Who  is  he  that  was  sown  by  the 
way  side?  "Any  one  who  heareth  the  word  of 
the  Kingdom  and  understandeth  it  not;"  that 
is,  one  who  listens  to  the  word  of  the  Kingdom, 
but  to  whom  that  word  is  but  a  jingle  of  empty 
sounds.  Such  are  seeds  planted  by  the  way 
side.  "The  evil  one  .  .  .  snatcheth  away 
that  which  hath  been  sown  in  his  heart." 
There  is  the  recognition  of  the  sowing  of  the 
w^ord  in  the  heart.  If  the  word  be  snatched 
away  out  of  a  man's  heart,  he  becomes  a  seed 
of  the  hard  highway,  and  no  issue  results  from 
his  planting,  no  fruitfulness,  no  influence  in  his 
age,  nothing  that  brings  the  Kingdom  nearer. 
This  is  the  first  kind  of  seed. 

Again  "he  that  was  sown  upon  the  rocky 
places," — who  is  he?  The  man  who  hears  the 
word,  and  rejoices  in  the  word,  "with  joy  re- 
ceiveth  it;  yet  hath  he  not  root  in  himself." 


PARABLE    OF    THE    SEED        59 

This  is  a  man  who  goes  farther  than  the  first 
man ;  one  who  not  only  knows  the  sound  of  the 
word  of  the  Kingdom,  and  is  famihar  with  its 
letter,  but  who  consents  to  its  claim,  and  re- 
joices in  it;  and  yet  he  never  allows  it  to  take 
grasp  of  his  own  life,  to  take  root  therein. 
''When  tribulation  or  persecution  ariseth  be- 
cause of  the  word,  straightway  he  stumbleth;" 
because  the  word  has  not  taken  root  in  himself, 
he  cannot  influence  the  age  for  the  Kingdom. 
That  man  becomes  a  non-productive  seed  in  the 
soil. 

Again,  *'he  that  was  sown  among  the 
thorns," — who  is  he  ?  He  is  the  man  who  hears 
the  word,  but  the  "care  of  the  age,  and  the 
deceitfulness  of  riches,  choke  the  word,  and  he 
becometh  unfruitful."  This  is  a  man  who  has 
within  him  the  life-giving  principle,  but  who 
becomes  so  occupied  with  the  things  of  the  age, 
with  its  methods  and  maxims,  its  cares  and  its 
pleasures,  that  they  operate  in  his  life  as  thorns, 
choking  the  vital  principle,  and  preventing  his 
having  any  effect  upon  the  age  in  which  he 
lives. 


60       PARABLD   OF   THE   SEED 

But  finally,  we  have  *'he  that  was  sown  upon 
the  good  ground."  Who  is  he?  He  is  the 
man  who  hears  the  word,  and  "understandeth 
it,  who  beareth  fruit,  and  bringeth  forth." 
This  is  the  man  who  hears  the  word  of  the 
Kingdom,  who  understands  it,  who  obeys  it, 
and  therefore  in  his  age  produces  fruit. 

Let  us  re-state  these  truths.  The  seed  which 
the  King  plants  is  not  here  the  word,  but  men 
who  have  heard  the  word.  One  has  heard  and 
never  understood.  To  him  the  word  is  a  form, 
a  jingle  of  empty  sounds.  Plant  that  man  in 
the  age  and  what  is  the  result  ?  With  persecu- 
tion and  testing  his  witness  fails.  Yet  another 
receives  the  same  word  of  the  Kingdom,  but 
he  is  enamoured  of  his  age,  desires  to  catch  its 
spirit,  and  to  adopt  its  method.  What  effect 
has  he  on  the  age?  None.  The  age  chokes 
him — under  the  press  and  crush  of  the  material 
interests  to  which  he  has  given  himself,  his 
influence  dies.  Here  is  another  who  hears, 
understands,  obeys.  The  word  produces  fruit 
in  his  life.  Plant  that  man,  and  what  is  the  re^ 
suit  ?    He  produces  fruit  toward  the  Kingdom 


PARABLE    OF   THE    SEED       61 

of  God.  His  life  is  the  life  that  makes  the 
age  a  little  more  like  that  Kingdom,  and  pre- 
pares for  the  return  of  the  King. 

Now,  let  us  take  the  parable  and  explana- 
tion, and  deduce  their  simple  and  natural  in- 
struction* Here  again,  I  ask  you  to  notice  the 
apparent  difference  between  the  incidence  of 
the  teaching  in  the  parable,  and  the  explana- 
tion. In  the  former,  the  whole  issue  seems  to 
depend  on  the  nature  of  the  soil.  In  the  latter, 
it  is  seen  to  depend  on  the  seed.  This  dis- 
tinction, however,  is  only  apparent.  It  cannot 
be  real,  because  when  Jesus  explained  His  own 
parable.  He  distinctly  said  that  the  nature  of 
the  seed  was  the  important  thing.  So  that  the 
harvest  depends,  not  upon  the  soil,  but  upon  the 
seed  sown.  The  soil  responds  or  refuses  to  re- 
spond according  to  what  that  seed  is  in  itself. 
We  all  feel  how  much  more  nearly  this  inter- 
pretation of  the  parable  harmonizes  with  ex- 
perience than  any  other.  If  it  be  interpreted  in 
the  usual  way,  then  there  is  no  responsibility 
whatever  upon  the  seed,  neither  can  the  soil  be 
blamed  for  the  lack  of  result  due  to  its  own 


62        PARABLE    OF    THE    SEED 

natural  hardness,  for  it  cannot  help  being  what 
it  is.  But  when  we  come  to  our  Lord's  ex- 
planation we  find  how  serious  our  responsibility 
is,  for  He  teaches  that  the  age  will  respond  or 
fail  to  respond  according  to  what  we  are  in  our- 
selves. The  age  will  be  hard,  rocky,  thorny, 
or  fruitful  according  to  the  nature  of  the  seed. 
What  a  man's  influence  in  the  age  is  going  to 
be  depends  entirely  upon  whether  the  word  of 
the  Kingdom  is  in  his  heart  or  not,  and  further 
upon  his  response  to  the  word  which  is  in  his 
heart.  Take  a  man  who  has  never  received  the 
word,  and  put  him  down  in  his  age,  and  he 
cannot  produce  the  influences  of  the  Kingdom. 
We  shall  meet  such  a  man  in  our  next  study,  in 
the  parable  of  the  tares. 

Let  us  now  fix  our  attention  upon  the  men 
who  have  heard  the  word.  There  has  been  the 
primary  sowing,  the  mysterious  impartation  of 
the  principle  of  life  which  makes  of  them  seeds 
equal  to  producing  harvest.  At  this  point  our 
parable  begins,  and  we  have  one  sower,  the 
Lord  Himself;  one  soil,  the  age;  one  seed,  men 
who  have  acquaintance  with  the  word  of  the 


PARABLE    OF    THE    SEED        6S 

Kingdom.  Now,  however,  we  see  four  results, 
all  depending  upon  the  nature  of  the  seed.  To 
the  seed  understanding  not,  the  beaten  way  of 
the  age  is  hard,  and  there  is  no  harvest.  The 
seed  with  no  root  in  itself,  the  persecuting  age 
destroys.  The  seed  which  is  careful  for  the 
things  of  the  age,  the  age  absorbs  and  chokes. 
None  of  these  three  bring  any  harvest.  To  the 
seed  that  understands  and  obeys  and  responds 
in  personal  life,  the  age  responds,  and  an  abun- 
dant harvest  is  the  result. 

This  parable,  then,  has  nothing  at  all  to  do 
with  the  subject  of  the  Christian  Church, 
neither  has  it  anything  to  do  with  that  of  the 
conversion  of  individual  men.  Members  of  the 
Church  are  here,  the  sons  of  the  Kingdom. 
The  subject  of  individual  regeneration  is  taken 
for  granted,  and  the  teaching  of  Christ  is  not 
regarding  the  salvation  of  individuals  and  the 
completion  of  the  Church,  but  the  method 
whereby  the  Kingdom  of  Heaven  may  be  in- 
troduced and  advanced  in  the  age.  What  are 
the  methods  which  make  for  its  presentation, 
enforcement,  and  realization?    Jesus  in  effect 


64        PARABLE    OF    THE    SEED 

Bays  in  this  first  parable,  as  in  the  second,  that 
the  harvest  of  the  Kingdom,  that  is,  the  ac- 
ceptation of  its  ideals,  the  influencing  of  the 
age  towards  its  consummation,  will  be  pro- 
duced by  implanting  in  the  age  such  souls  as 
have  received  the  word  of  the  Kingdom.  If 
they  receive  the  word  and  do  not  respond  to  it, 
they  bear  no  fruit,  and  do  not  lift  the  age  to- 
ward the  Kingdom.  If  they  respond  and  obey, 
they  will  bring  forth  harvest,  thirty,  sixty,  a 
hundredfold.  Then  the  philosophy  of  the 
parable  is  that  Jesus  Christ  in  this  age  works 
toward  the  realization  of  the  heavenly  King- 
dom on  earth,  by  planting  in  the  midst  of  its 
life  such  souls  as  have  heard  His  word,  have  re- 
ceived it,  and  obeyed  it.  He  influences  the  age 
through  their  presence,  through  their  living, 
through  all  that  they  are  in  themselves.  It  is 
not  by  preaching  that  this  work  is  best  or 
mainly  done;  preaching  is  rather  for  the  bring- 
ing in  of  other  men  in  order  that  such  may,  by 
regeneration,  themselves  become  seeds. 

This    is    one  aspect    of    Church    responsi- 
bility.    Our  inclusive  responsibility  is  that  of 


PARABLE    OF   THE    SE.-^.D        65 

the  evangelization  of  the  world,  but  that 
evangelization  has  in  it  two  values;  first,  the 
calling  out  of  individual  souls  in  order  to  com- 
plete the  Church  of  Jesus,  and  second,  that 
these  may  for  the  time  become  as  seeds  planted 
in  order  to  a  greater  harvest  than  that  of  the 
Church.  In  this  purpose  we  see  the  larger 
issue  of  the  Church's  responsibility.  The 
harvest  will  not  be  perfectly  gathered  in  this 
age,  but  preparation  will  be  made  for  the  age 
that  is  to  succeed.  I  feel  that  this  is  one  of  the 
aspects  of  our  work  of  which  we  have  too  often 
lost  sight.  Paul,  in  his  letter  to  the  Romans, 
says:  'The  whole  creation  groaneth  and  trav- 
aileth  in  pain  together  until  now,"  waiting 
"for  the  revealing  of  the  sons  of  God."  It  may 
quite  correctly  be  affirmed  that  the  apostle  is 
there  speaking  of  the  fact  that  presently,  when 
the  hidden  sons  of  God  are  manifest  with 
Christ  in  His  advent  glory,  there  will  begin 
the  final  work  of  healing  creation's  pain.  That 
will  be  the  historic  fulfilment  of  the  principle, 
but  the  principle  itself  is  at  work  to-day. 
Wherever  creation  groans,  the  only  method  of 


66        Pi^RABLE    OF    THE    SEED 

healing  its  wounds  and  assuaging  its  grief  is 
that  of  planting  the  sons  of  God  in  the  midst. 
That  is  the  motive — the  Christ-inspired  motive 
— which  lies  at  the  basis  of  all  our  settlement 
work.  There  are  some  who  imagine  that  such 
work  is  a  new  departure.  It  is  the  old  Chris- 
tian ideal.  The  trouble  too  often  is  that  we 
sow  seeds  which  lack  the  life  principle.  The 
planting  of  these  men  and  women  who  know 
Christ,  who  have  heard  and  obey  His  word,  in 
the  heart  of  the  misery,  is  the  method  of  Christ 
Himself.  Wherever  He  sows  such  seed, 
wherever  such  men  and  women  have  come  to 
live,  there  is  found  in  a  measure  the  healing  of 
creation's  wound,  and  the  soothing  of  its  pain. 
That  is  the  great  story  of  missionary  enter- 
prise. The  sob  of  the  women  and  children  of 
the  dark  places  of  the  earth  is  healed  by  the 
preaching  of  the  word,  but  there  would  be  no 
healing  but  for  the  living  presence  in  the  midst 
of  those  who  practise  the  word  they  preach. 
Plant  the  son  of  the  Kingdom  in  the  midst  of 
an  age  that  is  against  the  King,  and  he  will 
exert  an  influence  that  tells  for  the  Kingdom. 


PARABLE    OF    THE    SEED        67 

Wherever  sorrow  is  assuaged,  wherever 
wounds  are  healed,  wherever  love  becomes  the 
law  of  life,  wherever  men  are  loosed  from  the 
power  of  sin,  there  the  Kingdom  of  God  is 
come.  And  such  a  harvest  is  the  result  of  the 
living  seeds  flung  from  the  hand  of  the  living 
Sower  upon  the  soil  which  of  itself  produces  no 
Kingdom  result,  but  which  laughs  into  the 
harvest  of  the  Kingdom  in  sure  response  to  the 
fruitful  seed. 

Finally,  one  word  by  way  of  application  to 
our  own  hearts.  The  harvest  the  King  is  seek- 
ing is  the  harvest  of  the  Kingdom.  He  sows 
the  age  with  the  sons  of  the  Kingdom,  and  yet 
many  of  them  are  non-productive.  We  know 
His  word.  The  question  is.  What  effect  are 
we  producing  upon  our  age?  The  answer  de- 
pends upon  the  extent  to  which  the  word  we 
know  has  affected  our  lives.  How  many  there 
are  who  hear  the  words  of  the  Kingdom,  who 
have  never  yet  understood  them.  They  repeat 
them,  they  sing  them,  they  love  them  perhaps, 
but  there  is  no  resulting  harvest  in  the  age  in 
which  they  live.    The  harvest  of  the  Kingdom 


68       PARABLE    OF    THE    SEED 

is  not  found  even  in  their  own  homes.  There  is 
no  Kingdom  influence  exerted  in  their  social 
circle.  There  is  no  compulsion  toward  the 
Kingdom  produced  by  their  lives  in  city  or 
nation.  Why  not?  Because  they  heard  the 
words,  but  did  not  understand  them.  It  is 
possible  to  recite  all  the  words  of  the  Kingdom 
by  heart,  and  yet  in  home  life,  in  social  life, 
in  civic  life,  in  national  life,  to  realize  nothing. 

Or,  again,  some  have  gone  beyond  that. 
They  have  not  only  heard  the  words,  but  they 
rejoice  in  them.  They  consent  to  the  glory  of 
the  ideal.  Yet  as  the  word  of  the  Kingdom 
sets  up  its  imperial  demand  within,  seeking  to 
change  the  life,  they  hinder  it.  They  do  not 
allow  it  to  take  root,  with  the  result  that  the 
age  remains  hard  and  cruel. 

Some  have  gone  yet  farther.  They  have 
heard  and  obeyed  the  word  up  to  a  certain 
point,  but  have  never  in  their  deepest  heart 
been  delivered  from  the  age  itself.  No  man  can 
exert  an  influence  for  God  until  that  deliver- 
ance is  absolutely  his.  You  were  a  worker,  such 
a  worker  that  men  felt  your  power;  but  in  the 


PAKABLE   OF    THE    SEED        69 

matters  of  this  life  you  have  been  "getting  on/^ 
Oh,  this  devil  of  ^'getting  on,"  when  it  kills  a 
man's  power  for  God  in  his  age  I  The  care  of 
the  age,  the  deceitfulness  of  riches,  the  suc- 
cesses of  material  life  have  destroyed  the  testi- 
mony of  many  for  the  Kingdom.  When  a 
man  gives  himself  wholly  to  the  age,  to  be 
great  with  its  greatness,  to  be  wise  in  its  wis- 
dom, he  cuts  the  nerve  of  his  testimony  for 
God.  The  thorns  of  worldliness  choke  him, 
and  the  voice  that  was  powerful  is  silenced, 
and  the  life  that  was  productive  is  barren,  and 
nothing  is  done  for  the  Kingdom. 

But,  thank  God,  there  are  those  who  have 
heard  the  word,  who  understand  the  word, 
who  obey  the  word,  and  through  whose  lives 
the  Kingdom  is  influential.  What  is  the  issue  ? 
There  is  a  harvest  coming  wherever  they  go, 
some  thirty,  some  sixty,  some  a  hundredfold. 
There  are  men  and  women  whose  names  never 
appear  in  the  newspapers,  who  never  found  any 
report  of  their  work  even  in  the  manual  of  their 
Church,  but  who  have  lived  in  obedience  to  the 
word   of   the    King.     If   angels    wrote    tho 


70       PARABLE    OF    THE    SEED 

epitaph  of  such  at  their  passing,  they  would 
write,  These  are  they  who  helped  the  coming 
of  the  Kingdom.  No  finer  testimony  to  suc- 
cessful life  could  possibly  be  written. 

Let  us  lift  up  our  eyes  and  look  upon  this 
great  issue.  Let  no  man  imagine  that  I  am 
making  of  no  importance  the  bringing  of  men 
and  women  individually  to  Christ,  for  one  of 
the  greatest  incentives  to  that  work  is  the 
vision  of  the  larger  whole.  As  you  pass  out  to 
individual  work,  teaching  in  the  Sabbath 
School,  speaking  amid  the  needy  men  and 
women  of  the  age,  whatever  it  may  be,  never 
forget  that  whenever  you  win  man,  woman,  or 
little  child  to  the  word  of  the  Kingdom,  you 
are  planting  another  seed  in  the  age,  and  pre- 
paring for  the  harvest  which  is  yet  to  be. 
Every  one  of  us  who  has  heard  the  word,  and 
who  understands  it,  and  obeys  it,  is  part  of  the 
King's  influence,  and  every  soul  we  win  is  an- 
other seed  planted  for  the  final  harvest  of  His 
Kingdom, 


THE  PARABLE  OF  THE  DARNEL 


"Another  f arable  set  He  before  them,  saying,  The 
Kingdom  of  Heaven  is  likened  unto  a  man  that  sowed 
good  seed  in  his  Held:  but  while  men  slept,  his  enemy 
came  and  sowed  tares  among  the  wheat,  and  went  away. 
But  when  the  blade  sprang  up,  and  brought  forth  fruit, 
then  appeared  the  tares  also.  And  the  servants  of  the 
householder  came  and  said  unto  him,  Sir,  didst  thou  not 
sow  good  seed  in  thy  Heldf  whence  then  hath  it  tares t 
And  he  said  unto  them.  An  enemy  hath  done  this.  And 
the  servants  say  unto  him,  Wilt  thou  then  that  we  go 
ond  gather  them  up?  But  he  saith.  Nay;  lest  haply  while 
ye  gather  up  the  tares,  ye  root  up  the  wheat  with  them. 
Let  both  grow  together  until  the  harvest:  and  in  the 
time  of  the  harvest  I  xvill  say  to  the  reapers.  Gather  up 
first  the  tares,  ond  bind  them  in  bundles  to  burn  them: 
but  gather  the  wheat  into  my  barn.  .  ,  .  Then  He  left 
the  multitudes,  and  went  into  the  house:  and  His  dis- 
ciples came  unto  Him,  saying.  Explain  unto  us  the 
parable  of  the  tares  of  the  field.  And  He  answered 
itnd  said.  He  that  soweth  the  good  seed  is  the  Son  of 
Han;  and  the  field  is  the  world;  and  the  good  seed, 
these  are  the  sons  of  the  Kingdom;  and  the  tares  are 
the  sons  of  the  evil  one;  and  the  enemy  that  sowed 
them  is  the  devil;  and  the  harvest  is  the  end  of  the 
world;  ond  the  reapers  are  angels.  As  therefore  the 
tares  are  gathered  up  and  burned  with  fire;  so  shall  it 
be  in  the  end  of  the  world.  The  Son  of  Man  shall  send 
forth  His  angels,  and  they  shall  gather  out  of  His 
Kingdom  all  things  that  cause  stumbling,  and  them  that 
do  iniquity,  and  shall  cast  them  into  the  furnace  of  fire: 
there  shall  be  the  weeping  and  gnashing  of  teeth.  Then 
shall  the  righteous  shine  forth  as  the  sun  in  the  Kingdom 
of  their  Father.  He  that  hath  earSj  let  him  hear," — 
Matihiw  xiiL  34-30;  36-43, 


IV 

THE  PARABLE  OF  THE  DARNEL 

This  is  the  second  and  last  parable  which  the 
King  Himself  explained  to  His  disciples.  It  is 
perfectly  clear  that  this  explanation  was  given 
to  the  disciples  alone,  and  at  their  request. 
The  form  in  which  they  preferred  that  request 
reveals  the  impression  made  upon  them  by  the 
parable  as  the  Lord  spoke  it.  They  did  not  say, 
"^Explain  unto  us  the  parable  of  the  two  sow- 
ings/' or  "the  parable  of  the  enemy'';  but,  ''Ex- 
plain unto  us  the  parable  of  the  tares  of  the 
Held."  This  shows  that  the  emphasis  of  the 
King  was  laid  on  the  matter  of  the  tares. 

In  considering  this  parable  we  shall  follow 
our  method  with  the  previous  one,  first,  look- 
ing at  the  simple  picture  suggested,  secondly, 
attending  to  the  explanation  of  Jesus,  and 
thirdly,  deducing  from  that  explanation  the  in^ 
struction  which  it  contains  for  ourselves. 
73 


74     PARABLE    OF    THE    DARNEL 

There  are  three  outstanding  things  in  the 
picture  presented.  The  first  may  be  dismissed 
quite  briefly,  but  it  must  not  be  omitted.  'The 
Kingdom  of  Heaven  is  Hkened  unto  a  man  that 
sowed  good  seed  in  his  field."  The  picture  set 
forth  is  that  of  a  field,  the  property  of  the  man 
Jwho  sows  the  good  seed,  and  not  of  the  one 
who  sows  darnel.  The  proprietor  is  at  work  in 
his  own  field. 

In  the  next  place  we  notice  that  there  are 
two  sowings.  The  sowing  of  the  good  seed 
by  the  owner  with  the  special  desire  of  gather- 
ing a  definite  harvest  is  perfectly  natural. 
There  is  so  far  nothing  out  of  the  common, 
nothing  which  specially  arrests  attention.  But 
now  immediately  there  follows  something 
which  is  out  of  place,  something  which 
we  recognize  as  wrong,  against  which 
our  simple  sense  of  right  makes  protest. 
It  is  the  sowing  of  the  field  with  darnel. 
I  make  use  of  the  word  darnel,  because  tares 
as  we  know  them  do  not  bear  the  slight- 
est resemblance  to  wheat,  and  do  not  therefore 
suggest  to  us  the  essential  meaning  of  this 


PARABLE    OP    THE    DARNEL     75 

parable.  Darnel,  on  the  other  hand,  is  so  much 
like  wheat  that  in  the  first  stages  of  its  growth 
it  is  impossible  to  distinguish  between  them. 
Yet  they  are  absolutely  different.  The  farm- 
ers of  Palestine  are  perfectly  familiar  with 
darnel  to-day,  and  there  are  some  of  them  who 
afBrm  that  it  is  simply  degenerate  wheat — the 
effect  of  a  particularly  wet  and  heavy  season 
upon  the  originally  good  wheat  seed.  This, 
however,  is  not  the  case.  It  may  be  that  a 
wet  season  is  one  in  which  darnel  will  flourish 
while  wheat  fails;  but  there  is  no  doubt  what- 
ever as  to  the  essential  difference  between  the 
two.  This  difference,  however,  is  only  mani- 
fested in  development,  and  it  is  in  this  fact  of 
similarity  that  the  maliciousness  of  the  enemy 
is  discovered. 

The  third  matter  which  arrests  us  as  we  look 
at  the  picture  is  the  enemy.  We  know  this 
man  of  the  second  sowing  to  be  a  trespasser, 
for,  as  we  have  seen,  the  field  was  the  property 
of  the  one  who  sowed  the  good  seed  therein. 
He  had  no  right  whatever  in  the  field.  ''When 
man  slept/'  he  came,  with  subtlety  and  stealth. 


76     PARABLE    OF   THE   DARNEL 

In  indicating  thus  the  occasion  of  the  enemy's 
opportunity,  there  may  have  been  rebuke  in  the 
mind  of  the  Master  for  the  men  who  slept — we 
cannot  tell.  Be  that  as  it  may,  the  method  so 
far  as  the  foe  is  concerned  marks  his  wiliness, 
his  cowardliness,  his  dastardly  determination  to 
harm.  He  was  a  trespasser,  full  of  subtlety, 
animated  by  malice.  There  was  no  other 
motive  in  his  action.  He  could  gain  nothing 
by  sowing  another's  field  with  darnel,  for  it  is 
not  a  saleable  produce,  and  no  profit  can  be 
made  out  of  its  growth.  It  is  as  worthless  to 
the  man  who  sows  it  as  to  the  owner  of  the 
field.  This  sowing,  then,  was  the  result  of  pure 
malice — if  I  may  bring  into  conjunction  so  fine 
an  adjective  and  so  fearful  a  substantive. 
It  was  an  act  prompted  by  hatred  for  the 
owner,  and  judging  the  offence  as  we  should 
a  similar  one  in  our  own  country,  there  is  no 
one  of  us,  however  tender  of  heart,  who  would 
not  consent  to  its  punishment.  The  absolute 
meanness  of  the  action  appals. 

The  method  of  the  owner  is  perfectly  natural 
and  proper.    ^Xet  both  grow  together  until  the 


PARABLE    OF   THE    DARNEL     77 

harvest."  First,  for  the  sake  of  the  good,  lest 
while  attempting  to  uproot  the  evil  some  of  the 
good  may  suffer ;  and  secondly,  in  order  to  the 
full  manifestation  of  the  truth  concerning  the 
darnel.  If  these  sowings  are  allowed  to  work 
themselves  out  to  consummation,  discrimina- 
tion will  be  possible  upon  the  basis  of  manifes- 
tation, and  in  that  manifestation  there  will  be 
vindication  of  the  destinies  of  darnel  and  of 
wheat.  The  darnel  will  be  bound  in  bundles 
for  burning.  The  wheat  will  be  gathered  into 
the  gamer  of  the  owner. 

We  recognize  at  once  that  in  the  picture  we 
have  the  simplicity  of  a  great  sublimity,  and 
now  turn  to  our  Lord's  explanation,  first,  of 
the  field;  secondly,  of  the  two  sowings;  thirdly, 
of  the  harvest.  As  to  the  field  (verses  36-43), 
"He  that  soweth  the  good  seed  is  the  Son  of 
Man,  and  the  field  is  the  world."  The  word 
used  for  world  here  is  not  that  which  He  em- 
ploys later  when  speaking  of  the  harvest.  The 
phrase  ''the  end  of  the  world''  should  certainly 
be  translated  as  in  the  previous  parable, — the 
consummation  or  completion  of  the  age,  but  the 


78     PARABLE    OF    THE    DARNEL 

word  used  in  this  connection  is  cosmos,  mean- 
ing the  whole  of  the  ordered  universe,  includ- 
ing the  earth,  its  inhabitants,  and  all  creation. 
One  cannot  help  wondering  why  certain  fa- 
thers of  the  Church  and  theologians  of  an 
earlier  age  insisted  on  teaching  that  the  field 
is  the  Church  and  that  the  darnel  simply  signi- 
fies the  coming  into  the  Church  of  unworthy 
persons  and  ideals.  There  is,  of  course,  an 
element  of  truth  in  this;  but  the  King  was  per- 
fectly clear  in  His  statement  ''the  field  is  the 
world.''  Thus  He  claims  proprietorship  of  the 
whole  creation.  The  same  thought  underlies 
the  apostle's  teaching  in  that  wonderful  chap- 
ter in  his  letter  to  the  Romans,  when,  dealing 
with  the  condition  of  creation  in  its  sorrow  and 
pain,  he  writes,  "The  whole  creation  groaneth 
and  travaileth  in  pain  together."  That  which 
is  indicated  by  the  phrase  ''the  whole  creation" 
is  that  which  was  also  in  the  mind  of  the  King 
when  He  said  "the  field  is  the  world."  There 
is  infinite  poetry  in  this.  The  whole  creation, 
every  form  of  life,  every  condition  of  being, 
every  part  of  the  great  whole  belongs  to  the 


PARABLE    OF    THE    DARNEL     79 

Son  of  Man.  The  creation  is  His  field,  and  if 
indeed  there  be  mourning  everywhere,  if  na- 
ture is  *'red  in  tooth  and  claw,"  if  it  be  true  that 
there  is  suffering  throughout  all  the  cosmos  let 
us  never  forget  that  this  field  of  the  world  is 
His,  and  it  is  waiting  for  the  sowing  of  the 
good  seed  which  is  to  produce  the  harvest  of 
the  Kingdom.  Wherever  in  the  midst  of  the 
suffering  and  sorrow  and  groaning  ©f  creation 
the  Son  of  Man  plants  a  son  of  the  Kingdom, 
there  He  helps  towards  the  healing  of  the 
wound,  the  drying  of  the  tear,  and  the  turn- 
ing of  the  groaning  into  an  anthem  of  praise. 
I  do  not  know  how  this  appeals  to  you,  or  how 
it  may  affect  you.  I  can  never  tell  the  inex- 
pressible comfort  it  is  to  me  in  all  life  and  serv- 
ice. I  never  feel  that  I  am  engaged,  even 
under  the  leadership  of  Christ,  in  attempting  to 
wrest  something  from  one  to  whom  it  belongs. 
Our  toil  and  conflict  are  directed  rather  toward 
bringing  back  to  the  rightful  owner  that  which 
belongs  to  Him.  'The  earth  is  the  Lord's, 
and  the  fulness  thereof."  A  certain  man 
"sowed  good  seed  in  his  field."    I  find  in  these 


80     PARABLE    OF    THE    DARNEL 

facts  a  conviction  which  sends  me  out  upon 
the  track  of  His  feet  to  serve  and  to  suffer,  and 
to  share  the  travail  which  makes  His  Kingdom 
come.  Everything  belongs  to  Him,  moun- 
tains and  valleys,  continents  and  countries, 
beasts  and  birds,  flowers  and  fruits,  and  men 
of  all  kindreds  and  tribes  and  nations.  The 
recognition  of  this  fundamental  fact  is  neces- 
sary to  the  interpretation  of  the  parable.  The 
great  Kingdom  of  Jesus  is  far  from  its  perfect 
order,  but  no  other  than  He  has  any  crown 
rights  throughout  the  whole  world. 

Turn  now  to  our  Lord's  explanation  of  the 
two  sowings.  First,  the  good  seed,  "these  are 
the  sons  of  the  Kingdom;"  secondly,  we  see 
that  the  sower  of  the  good  seed  is  the  Son  of 
Man;  and  finally,  that  the  harvest  He  seeks  is 
the  Kingdom  itself.  Now  turn  to  the  other 
sowing.  The  sower  of  darnel  is  the  devil. 
The  very  name  which  Christ  uses  for  him  here 
is  suggestive — the  adversary,  the  enemy,  or  to 
be  perfectly  literal,  the  traducer,  the  one  who 
from  the  beginning  and  continually  traduces, 
libels,    blasphemes    God.     Notice    what    this 


PARABLE    OF    THE    DARNEL     81 

parable  teaches  about  him.  First  of  all,  as  we 
have  seen,  he  has  no  right  in  the  world.  He  is 
a  trespasser.  I  once  heard  a  Methodist  local 
preacher  say,  "The  devil  is  a  squatter,"  and 
then  proceed  to  explain  that  *'A  squatter  is  a 
man  who  settles  on  land  he  has  no  right  to,  and 
works  it  for  his  own  advantage."  With  that 
definition  I  am  perfectly  in  agreement.  It  ex- 
presses the  whole  truth  concerning  the  devil. 
When  presently  we  shall  know  the  mystery  of 
this  great  personality,  we  shall  perhaps  find 
that  he  was  the  god  of  this  world  before  he  fell. 
It  may  be  that  this  world  was  given  to  him  in 
some  past  economy  which  ended  in  failure. 
The  opening  story  of  the  Bible  suggests  this 
possibility.  There  was  a  certain  economy 
which  ended  in  darkness  and  void,  and  it  may 
be  that  behind  that  catastrophe  is  the  story  of 
the  devil.  Be  that  as  it  may,  we  know  from 
Scripture  that  he  left — mark  the  words — left 
his  ''proper  habitation";  that  is,  he  wandered 
from  the  orbit  in  which  the  infinite  wisdom  of 
God  had  placed  him,  sacrificing  all  right  to  his 
principality.     Again  I  am  constrained  to  ex- 


82     PARABLE    OF    THE    DARNEL 

claim,  Oh,  the  comfort  of  the  certainty  that  the 
devil  has  no  claim  to  the  world!  I  think  we 
have  missed  much  in  our  thinking  and  work  as 
Christian  people,  because  we  have  been  too 
ready  to  yield  to  him  as  his  right  everything 
upon  which  his  hand  rests.  Our  business  is 
ever  to  say.  Hands  off  in  the  name  of  the  Pro- 
prietor :  to  declare  at  every  point  that  the  whole 
field  belongs  to  the  Son  of  Man,  and  wherever 
it  is  sown  with  the  seed  of  evil  it  is  done  by  an 
enemy,  a  marauder.  In  this  parable  the  King 
has  done  what  indeed  He  did  in  all  His  life  and 
teaching — dragged  the  great  foe  from  his 
hiding-place  into  clear  daylight.  To  me  it  is 
as  remarkable  and  valuable  a  fact  that  Jesus 
came  to  show  up  the  work  of  the  devil  as  that 
He  came  to  reveal  God.  Paul  could  say,  ''We 
are  not  ignorant  of  his  devices,"  but  he  could 
not  have  said  that  until  he  had  been  brought 
into  the  light  of  the  Christian  revelation.  It  is 
when  a  man  submits  himself  to  Jesus  Christ 
that  he  sees  clearly,  not  God  only,  not  himself 
only,  but  his  enemy  also.  It  is  one  of  the  great 
advantages  of  coming  into  the  light  of  Christ's 


PARABLE    OF    THE    DAENEL     83 

teaching  that  man  is  enabled  to  see  the  devil 
for  what  he  is,  and  is  able  therefore  to  place  a 
true  value  on  both  his  person  and  his  purpose. 
Then  as  to  the  seed.  The  seed  is  the  sons  of 
the  evil — of  the  evil  one.  I  prefer  the  word  evil 
to  stand  in  its  abstract  suggestiveness  of  not 
only  the  evil  one,  but  of  all  the  issue  of  his 
work.  The  seeds  producing  darnel  are  the 
sons  of  evil.  As  to  the  sowing,  there  is  a 
phrase  which  we  must  not  miss,  "among  the 
wheat."  This  does  not  necessarily  mean  that 
all  who  are  not  Christian  people  are  to  be  de- 
scribed as  darnel.  The  word  *'among"  has 
behind  it  two  Greek  words.  One  of  these 
words  would  suffice  for  ordinary  expression, 
but  the  combination  of  the  two  lends  intensity 
to  the  thought.  The  phrase  occurs  only  four 
times  in  the  New  Testament,  once  used  here, 
again  by  Mark  in  connection  with  the  same 
teaching,  again  in  the  Corinthian  letter  in  quite 
another  realm  of  thought,  and  once  more  in 
Revelation  where  it  is  said  that  the  Lamb  is 
*'in  the  midst  of  the  throne."  It  is  the  most  in- 
tense way  of  saying  '^among."    Herein  is  re- 


84     PARABLE    OF    THE    DARNEL 

vealed  the  subtlety  of  the  foe.  He  scattered 
his  darnel  among  the  wheat.  The  devil's 
method  is  that  of  mingling  the  counterfeit 
with  the  real.  It  is  that  of  introducing  into 
the  Master's  own  property  that  which  is  so  like 
the  good  that  at  first  you  cannot  tell  the  dif- 
ference. That  is  the  devil's  mission  of  imita- 
tion.   It  is  the  heart  of  the  parable. 

What  is  to  be  the  issue  of  the  two  sowings  ? 
Their  time  of  operation  is  to  be  until  "the  end 
of  the  age,"  and  until  then  the  word  of  the 
King  is  ''Let  both  grow  together  until  the 
harvest."  Let  these  two  sowings  work  them- 
selves out  to  final  manifestation,  and  then  there 
will  be  separation. 

No  matter  how  closely  together  sons  of  the 
Kingdom  and  sons  of  evil  are  planted,  in  proc- 
ess of  time  the  difference  must  be  seen.  The 
Kingdom  heart  will  manifest  a  Kingdom  life. 
The  evil  nature  will  produce  an  evil  character. 
''Let  them  alone."  The  sons  of  the  Kingdom 
will  influence  the  age  toward  the  Kingdom, 
and  the  King  will  gather  His  harvest  as  the 
result  of  their  presence  in  the  world.    The  sons 


PARABLE    OF    THE    DARNEL     85 

of  evil  will  produce  a  harvest  of  abomination 
which  at  last  the  reapers  will  bind  and  burn. 
The  harvest  of  the  sons  of  the  Kingdom  will 
be  a  harvest  of  sunlight  upon  the  world.  They 
shall  "shine  forth  as  the  sun  in  the  Kingdom 
of  their  Father."  The  harvest  of  the  sons  of 
evil  will  be  one  of  evil,  of  things  which  offend 
and  defile,  and  He  by  His  reapers  will  at  the 
last  gather  them  out  and  cast  them  forth  to 
burning. 

Now,  finally,  what  instruction  are  we  to 
gather  from  this  parable?  First,  that  the 
method  of  the  foe  in  this  age  of  the  Kingdom 
is  that  of  imitation.  This  is  the  teaching  of 
the  parable  of  the  darnel.  The  parable  of  the 
mustard  seed  reveals  another  quality,  and  of 
the  leaven  yet  another;  but  here  the  enemy's 
method  of  imitation  is  revealed.  He  began  in 
the  days  of  the  apostles.  Ananias  and  Sap- 
phira,  Simon  Magus  with  his  following  were 
darnel  among  the  wheat.  Later  on,  as  the 
apostolic  writings  show,  men  crept  in  privily, 
came  in  unawares,  men  who  were  "not  of  us," 
who  taught  another  doctrine  and  yet  talked 


86     PARABLE    OF    THE    DARNEL 

in  the  language  of  the  Christian  faith.  It  was 
perpetually  the  method  of  imitation.  Leaving 
behind  the  apostolic  times  and  passing  through 
the  centuries  it  is  still  to  be  found.  The  es- 
sential power  of  the  sons  of  the  Kingdom  has 
been  imitated  by  false  power.  Their  true 
purity  has  been  counterfeited  by  that  false 
sanctity  which  insists  upon  external  things,  and 
knows  nothing  of  cleanness  of  the  heart.  Even 
to-day  the  method  is  still  apparent.  In  matters 
of  doctrine  men  are  taking  the  great  phrases  of 
the  New  Testament,  and  are  interpreting  them 
so  as  to  contradict  their  simplest  meaning.  In 
matters  of  spirituality,  are  ''holiness"  move- 
ments running  riot  until  they  become  bestial, 
and  an  unholy  traffic  with  matters  occult  mas- 
querades as  spiritual  religion.  Imitation  is  the 
devil's  master-method. 

The  method  of  the  King  is  still  that  of  wait- 
ing for  the  development  of  the  inner  truth. 
No  harm  can  come  to  the  good  seed  because 
darnel  is  sown  beside  it,  and  in  order  that 
judgment  upon  the  evil  may  be  complete  it 
must  be  permitted  to  work  itself  out  to  final 


PARABLE    OF    THE    DARNEL     87 

manifestation.  The  two  sowings  will  go  for- 
ward to  the  end  of  the  age,  and  difficulty  is 
often  caused  through  not  recognizing  this 
truth.  One  person  tells  me  that  the  world  is 
getting  worse  and  worse,  while  another  affirms 
that  it  is  getting  better  and  better.  The  pity  is 
that  the  two  quarrel,  for  they  are  both  right. 
Evil  has  become  more  evil  in  every  age. 
Devilry  has  become  more  devilish  with  the  pass- 
ing of  the  centuries.  Evil  to-day  is  far  more 
diabolic  than  anything  which  existed  in  these 
islands  before  the  coming  of  Roman  civiliza- 
tion. It  is  more  cunning,  more  insidious,  more 
cruel  in  its  refinement.  On  the  other  hand, 
goodness  is  being  manifested  on  ever  higher 
planes,  and  the  Kingdom  harvest  is  surely 
growing.  Everywhere  darnel  is  growing  by 
the  side  of  the  wheat.  What,  then,  is  our  duty 
toward  the  darnel?  I  am  sometimes  asked  to 
take  part  in  the  uprooting  of  imitations,  but  the 
method  of  the  King  is  other.  He  said,  "Let  it 
alone.'' 

The   King   will   not   always   let   it   alone. 
There  is  a  day  coming,  thank  God,  when  this 


88     PARABLE    OF    THE    DARNEL 

age  shall  end.  The  age  is  necessary,  but  pre- 
liminary only,  and  it  is  at  last  to  be  consum- 
mated. The  history  of  the  world  will  not  end 
with  the  consummation  of  the  age.  There  is 
to  be  another  age  ushered  in  by  the  burning  of 
the  darnel  and  the  garnering  of  the  wheat,  an 
age  which  shall  be  initiated  by  the  King's  clear- 
ing out  of  His  field  all  the  things  which  offend. 
Oh,  sometimes  one  prays — and  is  always  a  little 
afraid  in  the  praying  lest  there  should  be  im- 
patience with  the  Divine  method — Hasten  the 
coming  of  Thine  advent  feet.  The  world  is 
waiting  for  the  day  of  darnel  burning,  and  the 
clear  manifestation  of  the  righteous.  If  I  were 
persuaded  that  there  were  no  other  method  in 
the  economy  of  God  than  that  of  to-day  I 
should  be  the  most  hopeless  and  pessimistic  of 
men.  Foreign  Missions?  The  Master  com- 
manded, and  we  must  go;  but  we  cannot  be 
blind  to  the  fact  that  the  heathen  are  multiply- 
ing far  more  rapidly  than  the  Christian  con- 
verts. Presently,  however,  the  age  will  have 
fulfilled  its  mission,  and  then  it  will  be  ended. 
This  does  not  mean  that  He  will  abandon  the 


PARABLE    OP    THE    DARNEL     89 

world.  It  does  not  mean  that  His  infinite  pur- 
pose will  be  frustrated.  When  this  age  is  com- 
pleted, and  the  darnel  harvest  has  been  gath- 
ered for  destruction,  and  the  wheat  harvest  to 
the  glory  of  the  Owner  of  the  field,  then  the 
field,  the  world,  will  have  its  opportunity. 
There  are  questions  not  discussed  in  this  para- 
ble, and  we  must  not  therefore  look  for  them 
here.  It  is  taken  for  granted,  for  instance,  that 
a  man  who  is  a  son  of  evil  may  be  changed  into 
a  son  of  the  Kingdom.  Thank  God  that  it  is 
possible.  It  is  the  stupendous  miracle  of  Chris- 
tianity that  the  son  of  evil,  the  darnel,  can  be- 
come changed  into  the  son  of  the  Kingdom,  the 
wheat.  This  is  one  of  the  things  impossible 
with  men,  but  possible  with  God.  Everywhere 
such  men  are  to  be  found,  and  where  they  live 
and  work,  the  Kingdom  of  Heaven  is  growing. 
It  is  the  comfort  of  the  hour.  Darnel  is  every- 
where ;  but  wheat  is  everywhere.  Throughout 
the  world  the  King  has  sown  the  sons  of  His 
Kingdom,  and  their  presence  everywhere  is 
creating  an  influence  and  preparing  for  the  new 
age. 


THE  PARABLE  OF  THE 
MUSTARD  SEED 


"Another  parable  set  He  forth  before  them,  saying, 
The  Kingdom  of  Heaven  is  like  unto  a  grain  of  mustard 
seed,  which  a  man  took,  and  sowed  in  his  field:  which 
indeed  is  less  than  all  seeds;  but  when  it  is  grown  it  is 
greater  than  the  herbs,  and  becometh  a  tree,  so  that 
the  birds  of  the  heaven  come  and  lodge  in  the  branches 
thereof." — Matthew  xiii.  31,  z^. 


y 

THE  PARABLE  OF  THE  MUSTARD 
SEED 

We  now  come  to  the  first  of  the  parables  of 
which  the  King  gave  no  distinct  explanation. 
It  is  therefore  important  that  we  proceed  with 
care.  There  are  perils  of  interpretation  which 
we  must  avoid,  and  principles  of  interpretation 
which  we  must  observe.  The  perils  to  which 
I  refer  are  two; — first,  popularity  of  opinion; 
secondly,  misinterpretation  of  history.  Unless 
we  guard  against  the  first  we  shall  constantly 
find  ourselves  mistaken  as  to  the  meaning  of 
Scripture.  The  fact  that  in  the  judgment  of  a 
majority  of  expositors  a  passage  has  a  certain 
meaning  is  not  necessarily  proof  that  that 
meaning  is  correct.  Popular  interpretations  of 
the  Old  Testament  Scriptures  resulted  in  the 
crucifixion  of  Jesus  Christ. 

We  need  also  very  carefully  to  guard  against 


94  THE    PARABLE    OF 

a  misinterpretation  of  history  which  may  drive 
us  to  misinterpretation  of  the  parables.  We 
may  be  indined  to  say  these  parables  mean 
certain  things  because  of  what  has  happened  in 
the  centuries :  while  yet  as  a  matter  of  fact  we 
do  not  correctly  understand  the  history. 

As  to  the  principles  of  interpretation.  First, 
we  must  expect  to  find  in  this  parable  harmony 
of  teaching  with  the  other  parables.  We  must 
be  suspicious  of  any  interpretation  of  the  one 
parable  which  contradicts  that  of  any  other. 
We  may  take  it  for  granted  that  Christ  is  con- 
sistent in  His  teaching.  Hence  the  value  of  the 
fact  that  the  first  two  parables  were  explained 
by  the  King  Himself.  From  these  explana- 
tions we  may  proceed  to  an  examination  of  all 
the  rest.  Once  again,  we  must  remember  the 
consistency  of  our  Lord's  figures.  He  does  not 
confuse  them  in  His  use.  The  sower  of  the 
different  parables  always  represents  the  same 
person,  and  so  throughout.  When  He  has 
give  us  the  explanation  of  a  figure  we  may 
apply  that  explanation  uniformly. 

Let  us  now  inquire  into  the  meaning  of  our 


THE    MUSTARD    SEED  95 

parable,  remembering  both  the  perils  and  prin- 
ciples of  interpretation.  It  is  generally  be- 
lieved that  by  it  Jesus  intended  to  teach  the 
satisfactory  growth  of  the  Kingdom  idea  until 
it  became  dominant  in  human  history,  and  an 
expositor  of  Holy  Scripture,  whom  I  person- 
ally value  most  highly,  but  from  whom  at  this 
point  I  differ,  expresses  the  popular  interpreta- 
tion as  follows : — 

The  parables  already  considered  might  suggest  that 
the  Kingdom  was  destined  to  partial  and  shaded  suc- 
cess. The  first  spoke  of  three  parts  of  the  seed  as  com- 
ing to  nothing,  and  the  second,  of  the  fourth  part  as 
coming  up  amid  tares.  The  listeners  might  say,  'Ts  this 
all?"  Therefore  in  the  next  two,  our  Lord  sets  forth 
a  brighter  aspect  of  the  future  of  the  Kingdom,  exhibit- 
ing in  the  former  its  growth  from  small  beginnings  to 
great  magnitude,  and  in  the  second  its  transforming 
influence  on  the  mass  in  which  it  is  deposited. 

Such  a  view  admits  in  the  first  two  parables 
what  they  most  certainly  suggest  and  teach; 
but  it  then  declares  that  the  next  two  contradict 
that  teaching.  I  claim,  therefore,  that  such  in- 
terpretation, though  popular,  is  incorrect. 

Again,  remember  that  the  "partial  and 
shaded  success"  of  the  Kingdom  with  which 


96  THE    PARABLE    OF 

the  first  two  deal  is  a  ''partial  and  shaded  suc- 
cess" in  one  age  only.  To  think  of  the  present 
age  as  final  is  to  be  driven  to  hopeless  con- 
fusion in  the  interpretation  of  Scripture.  On 
the  other  hand,  to  recognize  that  beyond  the 
present  age  is  a  greater  age  for  the  Kingdom, 
is  to  understand  the  teaching  of  Jesus  about 
"partial  and  shaded  success."  What  I  submit 
is  that,  having  taught  that  the  Kingdom  is  to 
meet  v^ith  ''partial  and  shaded  success"  in  this 
age  Jesus  does  not  contradict  nor  modify  His 
teaching  afterwards.  Take  the  history  of  the 
Kingdom  during  the  past  nineteen  centuries. 
Is  there  any  one  who  will  care  to  affirm  that  it 
has  been  a  complete  success  ?  Is  it  not  true — 
if  I  may  borrow  this  phrase  again — that  it  has 
met  only  with  "partial  and  shaded  success"? 
Who  will  care  to  say  that  the  Kingdom  of  God 
has  ever  been  truly  exhibited  among  men? 
We  talk  very  glibly  about  Christian  nations; 
but  there  are  no  Christian  nations.  Of  course, 
if  we  use  the  phrase  in  a  limited  sense  we  may 
by  comparison  be  called  a  Christian  nation; 
but  even  so  I  fear  that  our  Christianity,  mani- 


THE    MUSTARD    SEED  97 

fested  nationally,  is  of  a  very  poor  type.  I  am 
not  convinced  that  there  is  more  Christianity  in 
forcing-  entrance  to  another  country  at  the 
point  of  the  bayonet  for  the  purpose  of  com- 
mercial enterprise,  than  there  is  in  killing  your 
neighbour  and  eating  him.  The  world  has 
never  seen  the  Kingdom  of  God  set  up  in  per- 
fection yet;  and  notwithstanding  the  fact  that 
nineteen  centuries  have  passed  away,  the  King- 
dom idea  of  Jesus  has  met  with  but  ''partial 
and  shaded  success."  Let  no  one  misinterpret 
me,  God  is  not  failing.  He  is  doing  the  work 
He  intends  to  do,  and  beyond  the  little  while 
of  this  age  and  the  tiny  span  of  our  endeavour, 
He  has  other  and  mighty  work  to  accomplish. 
Do  not  let  us  ever  attempt  to  interpret  the 
doings  of  God  by  the  appearances  of  half  an 
hour,  or  half  a  millennium.  To  make  any 
parable  teach  the  complete  and  final  success  of 
the  Kingdom  purpose  in  the  present  age  is  not 
only  to  misinterpret  the  other  parables  to  make 
them  square  with  this  idea,  but  it  is  to  misin- 
terpret the  actual  facts  of  history.  The  general 
teaching  of  the  parables  is  that  throughout  this 


98  THE    PARABLE    OF 

age  there  will  be  difficulty,  limitation,  admix- 
ture, opposition.  Separation  between  the  con- 
flicting elements  is  postponed  to  the  consum- 
mation of  the  age,  when  there  will  succeed  to 
the  day  of  grace  and  waiting  a  day  of  judg- 
ment and  of  perfect  victory. 

Now,  notice  the  figures  in  this  parable  which 
have  appeared  in  previous  ones.  The  seed — 
and  we  have  already  seen  that  in  the  thought 
of  Jesus  the  seed  is  ever  that  of  human  lives  in 
which  the  word  has  b  n  realized.  The  sower 
— according  to  His  own  teaching  the  sower  is 
Himself,  the  Son  of  Man.  The  soil — and  as 
we  have  heard  Him  say,  *'the  field  is  the 
world."  The  birds — and  according  to  His  in- 
terpretation already  given,  they  are  such  as 
harm  rather  than  help.  These  facts  must  be 
kept  in  mind  as  we  proceed  to  examine  this 
parable,  first  as  to  the  picture  presented,  and 
then  as  to  the  lessons  taught. 

The  picture  presented  is  one  of  an  unnatural 
development,  an  unintended  issue.  The  mus- 
tard is  well  known  in  Palestine,  and  is  not  a 
tree,  but  an  herb.    As  a  tree  it  has  been  well 


THE    MUSTARD    SEED  99 

described  as  a  "garden  shrub  outdoing  itself/' 
and  all  attempts  to  make  it  symbolic  of  un- 
qualified success  are  of  the  nature  of  special 
pleading.  In  connection  with  this  parable  I 
have  been  interested  to  notice  how  many  ex- 
positors refer  to  a  sentence  in  Dr.  Thomson's 
The  Land  and  the  Book.     He  says: — 

Is  this  wild  mustard  that  is  growing  so  luxuriantly 
and  blossoming  so  fragrantly  along  our  path?  It  is; 
and  I  have  always  found  it  here  in  the  spring;  and,  a 
little  later  than  this,  the  vhole  surface  of  the  vale  will 
be  gilded  over  with  its  yelu/W  flowers.  /  have  seen  this 
plant  on  the  rich  plain  of  Akkar  as  tall  as  the  horse  and 
his  rider. 

It  is  this  last  sentence  which  is  so  constantly 
quoted  in  support  of  the  idea  that  the  mustard 
seed  becomes  a  tree.  Let  us,  however,  read 
further  from  Dr.  Thomson  in  this  connection. 
He  continues : — 

It  has  occurred  to  me  on  former  visits  that  the 
mustard  tree  of  the  parable  probably  grew  at  this  spot, 
or  possible  at  Tabiga,  near  Capernaum,  for  the  water 
in  both  is  somewhat  similar  and  so  are  the  vegetable 
productions.  To  furnish  an  adequate  basis  for  the 
parable,  it  is  necessary  to  suppose  that  a  variety  of  it 
was  cultivated  in  the  time  of  our  Saviour,  which  grew 
to  an  enormous  size,  and  shot  forth  large  branches,  so 


100  THE    PARABLE    OF 

that  the  fowls  of  the  air  could  lodge  in  the  branches 
of  it.  It  may  have  been  perennial  and  have  grown  to 
a  considerable  tree,  and  there  are  traditions  in  the 
country  of  such  so  large  that  a  man  could  climb  into 
them ;  and  after  having  seen  red  pepper  bushes  grow  on 
year  after  year  into  tall  shrubs,  and  the  castor  bean 
line  the  brooks  about  Damascus  like  the  willows  and 
the  poplars,  I  can  readily  credit  the  existence  of  mustard 
trees  large  enough  to  meet  the  demands  of  our  Lord's 
parable. 

Thus  it  is  evident  that  Dr.  Thomson,  after 
careful  observation,  was  convinced  that  it  was 
possible  for  there  to  be,  occasionally  and  ex- 
ceptionally, a  mustard  tree  large  enough  to 
correspond  with  the  description  of  Jesus. 
What  is  the  necessary  and  simple  deduction? 
That  if  there  be  such  a  tree  it  is  abnormal,  un- 
natural, something  which  has  escaped  its 
original  intention. 

Again,  so  accurate  a  writer  as  Dr.  Hamilton 
says : — 

When  this  little  seed  is  sown  in  the  "garden"  or 
"field"  it  shoots  up,  and  soon  overtops  the  pulse  and 
other  potherbs  around  it  and  becomes  a  "great  tree"; 
not  meaning  thereby  an  oak  or  a  cedar,  but  a  plant 
sufficiently  tall  and  expansive  for  birds  to  find  shelter 
in  the  branches. 


i 


THE    MUSTARD    SEED  101 

These  quotations  serve  to  show  the  difficulty 
that  the  popular  interpretation  of  this  parable 
at  once  creates.  A  mustard  seed  cannot  prop- 
erly and  normally  produce  a  magnificent  and 
far-spreading  tree.  It  must  be  recognized  that 
Jesus  was  describing  something  out  of  the 
ordinary,  something  unnatural.  The  mustard 
is  an  herb  and  not  a  tree,  and  if  it  so  happen 
that  the  mustard  plant,  which  is  naturally  small 
and  unobtrusive,  pass  out  of  the  stage  of  the 
yellow  flowering  herb  of  beauty  to  that  of  a 
great  and  mighty  tree  with  branches,  then  both 
process  and  result  are  abnormal  and  unnatural. 
Dr.  Carr  says,  "The  mustard  plant  does  not 
grow  to  a  very  great  height,  so  that  Luke's  ex- 
pression Svaxed  a  great  tree'  must  not  be 
pressed."  But  I  cannot  consent  so  to  deal  with 
Luke's  expression.  I  must  abide  by  the  actual 
words,  and  doing  so  I  learn  from  the  lips  of 
Jesus  the  fact  of  the  perverted  growth  of  the 
Kingdom  in  this  age.  The  mustard  seed  was 
to  become  greater  than  all  herbs,  but  when  it 
becomes  greater  than  its  true  species  it  is  ab- 
normal.    It  is  not  what  the  man  who  planted 


102  THE    PARABLE    OF 

it  intended  it  to  be,  and  the  fact  that  it  affords 
lodgment  in  its  branches  for  the  birds  of  the 
heaven,  proves  its  abnormahty. 

What,  then,  are  the  lessons  which  the  para- 
ble teaches  us  ?  First,  that  in  this  age  there  will 
be  an  unnatural  development  of  the  Kingdom 
principle.  The  true  line  of  development  is  sug- 
gested by  the  figure  of  the  mustard  seed  which 
is  that  of  lowliness,  meekness,  unobtrusiveness. 
What  has  been  the  actual  development  ?  From 
the  mustard  seed,  the  herb  denoting  humility, 
has  arisen  a  great  and  lofty  tree  significant  of 
pride,  dominance,  mastership.  I  recall  a  con- 
versation I  once  had  with  Mr.  Hall  Caine,  soon 
after  the  publication  of  his  book  The  Christian. 
I  strongly  objected  to  what  seemed  to  me  to  be 
a  misinterpretation  of  the  Christian  ideal  in 
that  book,  and  I  said  to  him,  *'Do  you  mean  to 
tell  the  world  that  John  Storm  is  a  Christian  ?" 
His  answer  was  a  remarkable  one.  "By  no 
means.  I  intend  to  teach  the  fact  that  we  do 
not  understand  what  Christ  really  taught." 
He  then  gave  me  two  illustrations  of  what  he 
meant.     *1  am  prepared,"  he  said,  "to  put  the 


THE    MUSTARD    SEED  103 

whole  ethical  teaching  of  Jesus  into  two 
phrases:  first  *He  that  is  greatest  among  you 
shall  be  your  servant,'  and  second,  'Lay  not 
up  for  yourselves  treasures  upon  the  earth.'  " 
I  am  not  for  the  moment  discussing  the  com- 
prehensiveness of  these  two  principles — I  am 
simply  quoting  Mr.  Hall  Caine.  He  then  de- 
clared, what  is  perfectly  patent  to  all  of  us,  that 
our  national  greatness  is  such  as  has  resulted 
from  our  violation  of  these  two  principles.  We 
have  sought  power  before  service,  and  posses- 
sion before  sacrifice. 

Turning  from  Mr.  Hall  Caine's  declaration 
of  the  nation's  failure  to  realize  the  Kingdom, 
I  ask  if  the  Church  of  God  has  realized  that 
Kingdom  in  its  ideal  of  lowliness,  of  meekness, 
of  service?  In  the  days  when  Jesus  was 
preaching  the  Kingdom  His  own  immediate 
followers  were  constantly  asking,  Who  is  mas- 
ter among  us?  Who  is  the  greatest  among 
us?  Who  shall  sit  at  the  King's  right  hand  in 
power?  In  the  early  Church  the  same  spirit 
was  manifest,  men  so  craving  for  mastership, 
homage,  power,  that  Peter  was  compelled  to 


104  THE    PARABLE    OF 

write  to  those  who  had  oversight  of  the  flock  of 
God,  charging  them  not  to  ''lord  it"  over  God's 
heritage. 

In  process  of  time  Constantine  espoused  the 
cause  of  Christianity.  With  reference  to  this 
epoch  one  of  the  old  expositors  says  that  the 
mustard  seed  planted  in  Judea  was  but  a 
small  thing,  but  it  suddenly  sprang  into  a  tree, 
great  and  magnificent,  in  that  wonderful  hour 
when  Constantine  became  a  Christian.  That 
statement  is,  I  believe,  true,  but  was  the  de- 
velopment good  or  bad?  Did  it  help  Chris- 
tianity or  hinder  it?  I  am  of  opinion  that 
nothing  so  hindered  the  true  Kingdom  prin- 
ciple in  the  world,  as  Constantine's  espousal  of 
the  cause  of  Christianity. 

In  the  Papacy  the  same  principle  is  manifest. 
The  spirit  of  the  Church  which  desires  worldly 
power  and  worldly  authority  is  the  very  oppo- 
site of  the  spirit  of  lowliness  and  meekness  and 
service.  The  small  and  lowly  seed  has  become 
a  great  tree,  and  into  its  branches  the  fowls  of 
the  air  have  come  to  lodge.  Greatness  in  ex- 
ternal and  material  things  is  but  a  false  great- 


THE    MUSTAED    SEED  105 

ness,  and  wherever  the  Church  has  risen  to 
anything  Hke  worldly  power  it  has  become  a 
refuge  for  the  things  that  are  unclean  and 
polluting  and  life-destructive. 

We  must  remind  ourselves  again  that  the 
Lord  in  these  parables  is  not  dealing  with  the 
^f  true  nature  of  the  Kingdom,  neither  is  He  de- 
claring the  ultimate  issue  thereof.  God's  King- 
dom will  yet  be  set  up  on  this  earth,  and  the 
true  principles  of  greatness  revealed  in  His 
own  humility  and  eunuciated  in  His  teaching 
will  be  the  principles  which  obtain  in  the  affairs 
of  the  world.  Somewhere  on  in  that  dim  dis- 
tance— and  measuring  distances  by  our  meas- 
ures it  sometimes  looks  a  long  way — he  will  be 
counted  great  who  has  girded  himself  with  a 
towel  to  serve.  Sometime,  when  God's  great 
Kingdom  comes,  we  shall  not  imagine  that  he 
is  great  who  has  mastered  his  fellowman; 
rather,  he  who  has  served  him  in  lowly  and 
loving  unobtrusiveness.  The  ideal  is  already 
dawning.  Men  are  beginning  to  see  its  glory. 
An  influence  is  being  exerted  to-day  among 
men  which   will   come  to   harvest  when   the 


106  THE    PARABLE    OP 

King  Himself  comes.  Do  not  imagine  that 
this  parable  teaches  the  ultimate  failure  of 
the  Kingdom  life  and  growth,  but  it  does 
teach  comparative  failure,  the  result  of  misin- 
terpretation and  misapplication  of  the  ideals  of 
Jesus.  Men  have  attempted  by  manipulation 
of  material  things  to  make  of  Christianity  a 
great  imperial  power.  The  figure  of  the  tree 
as  denoting  worldly  greatness  was  used  of 
Nebuchadnezzar  and  of  Pharaoh,  and  in  this 
sense  our  Lord  made  use  of  it.  True  to  His 
prediction,  the  seed  typifying  the  meekness  and 
lowliness  of  the  Kingdom  ideal  has  developed 
along  a  false  Hne  which  has  resulted  in  a  tree 
of  worldly  power  affording  shelter  and  protec- 
tion to  that  which  is  evil  and  dishonouring. 

What  is  the  bearing  of  this  study  upon  us? 
Surely  first  the  recognition  of  the  facts  of  the 
case  in  order  that  we  may  be  aided  thereby  in 
our  life  and  service.  I  pass  by  that  applica- 
tion, however,  that  in  a  closing  word  I  may 
make  a  personal  one.  In  our  individual  life, 
and  so  far  as  possible  in  our  Church  capacity, 
we  ought  to  attempt  to  realize  the  purpose  of 


THE    MUSTARD    SEED  107 

the  King.  We  ought  to  be  ready  to  turn  from 
the  false  greatness  which  He  disowns  to  the 
true  greatness  which  He  recognizes.  In  indi- 
vidual life,  and  also  in  the  corporate  life  of  the 
Church,  we  shall  realize  His  purpose  in  pro- 
portion as  we  remember  that  in  meekness  and 
lowliness,  in  unceasing  zeal  and  consecrated 
service,  in  perpetual  outpouring  of  the  life  in 
sacrificial  toil,  in  endless  running  on  His  er- 
rands of  tender  mercy  we  shall  be  most  loyal 
to  the  King,  and  shall  best  give  the  world  to 
see  the  infinite  contrast  between  the  material 
ideal  of  pomp  and  pageantry  and  pride,  and  the 
spiritual  ideal  of  simplicity  and  sweetness  and 
service. 

Christ  was  under  no  delusion  as  to  what 
would  happen  in  this  age.  A  sower  sowing 
seed,  and  only  a  quarter  of  it  responsive!  A 
sower  sowing  seed,  and  an  enemy  sowing 
darnel!  A  sower  sowing  seed  which  trans- 
gresses the  bounds  of  its  own  nature  and  be- 
comes a  tree  sheltering  evil  things.  It  is  for 
us  to  bow  in  the  presence  of  His  knowledge  of 
the  characteristics  of  the  age  which  He  was  in- 


108  PARABLE  OF  MUSTARD  SEED 

troducing,  but  it  is  ours,  moreover,  to  give  our- 
selves so  fully  to  Him  in  consecration  as  to 
realize  in  the  sphere  of  our  own  responsibility 
His  ideals  and  His  purposes,  and  so  to  move 
toward  the  consummation  of  the  age,  and  the 
dawning  of  the  one  which  lies  beyond. 


THE  PARABLE  OF  THE  LEAV- 
ENED MEAL 


"Another  parable  spake  He  unto  them;  The  Kingdom 
of  Heaven  is  like  unto  leaven,  which  a  woman  took,  and 
hid  in  three  measures  of  meal,  till  it  was  all  leavened" 
— Matthew  xiii.  33. 


VI 

THE  PARABLE  OF  THE  LEAVENED 
MEAL, 

There  are  two  interpretations  of  this  parable. 
The  first  and  the  most  popular  is  that  which 
treats  leaven  as  the  type  of  the  Kingdom.  The 
other  claims  that  the  whole  picture  is  required 
to  set  forth  what  the  King  intended  to  teach 
concerning  the  Kingdom.  That  is  to  say,  one 
method  of  interpretation  lays  emphasis  upon 
the  fact  that  the  Lord  said  "The  Kingdom  of 
Heaven  is  like  unto  leaven."  The  other  inter- 
pretation insists  that  to  stop  there  is  to  miss  the 
Master's  meaning,  and  that  it  is  necessary  to 
read  'The  Kingdom  of  Heaven  is  Hke  unto 
leaven,  which  a  woman  took,  and  hid  in  three 
measures  of  meal."  Either  leaven  alone  is  the 
type  of  the  Kingdom,  or  all  the  facts  of  the 
picture — the  meal,  the  woman,  the  leaven,  the 
111 


112  THE    PARABLE    OF 

hiding,  and  the  issue — are  required  in  order  to 
understand  what  the  King  intended  to  teach. 

If  the  first  interpretation  of  the  parable,  that 
leaven  is  the  symbol  of  the  Kingdom,  be  the 
correct  one,  we  are  necessarily  driven  to  the 
conclusion  that  in  this  instance  leaven  must  be 
the  type  of  good,  and  that  as  a  result  of  its 
working  all  things  will  be  finally  brought  into 
subjection  to  the  King.  That  is  the  view 
which  seems  to  be  held  to-day  by  the  great 
majority  of  expositors. 

According  to  the  second  view  leaven  is  not  a 
type  of  good  but  of  evil,  as  it  is  in  every  other 
case  in  Scripture.  It  is  thus  the  type  of  a  prin- 
ciple which  affects  for  evil  the  Kingdom  testi- 
mony of  this  particular  age.  The  ultimate 
issue,  therefore,  described  is  not  the  conquest 
of  the  age  by  the  principles  of  the  Kingdom, 
but  rather  the  intermixture  with  the  Kingdom 
testimony  of  forces  which  enfeeble  it  and 
render  it  comparatively  inoperative. 

If  a  view  is  not  to  be  accepted  because  of  its 
popularity,  neither  ought  it  to  be  rejected  on 
that  account.    There  are,  however,  other  rea- 


THE    LEAVENED    MEAL         113 

sons  which  compel  me  to  accept  the  second 
theory  as  the  true  one.  I  do  so  in  the  first 
place  because  the  former  view  is  out  of  har- 
mony with  the  symbolic  use  of  the  Bible  in 
other  places.  Those  who  hold  the  first  view 
admit  frankly  that  this  is  the  only  case  in  which 
leaven  is  used  as  a  type  of  good.  Uniformly, 
from  its  first  mention  to  its  last,  with  this  one 
exception — if  it  be  an  exception — leaven  is  a 
type  of  evil.  In  its  actual  effect  leaven  ever 
produces  disintegration  and  corruption,  and  in 
all  other  cases  it  is  used  in  harmony  with  this 
fact,  as  a  type  of  evil.  I  do  not  personally 
believe  that  in  this  one  instance  there  is  a  de- 
parture from  the  general  rule.  But  secondly, 
and  this  to  me  is  a  more  convincing  proof,  I 
cannot  accept  the  more  popular  interpretation 
because  it  contradicts  the  teaching  of  all  the 
other  parables,  not  one  of  which  suggests  that 
the  Kingdom  influence  in  this  age  is  to  be  vic- 
torious wholly  and  absolutely.  Mixture  is 
suggested  from  beginning  to  end.  The  sowing 
of  the  seed  in  the  first  parable  results  not  in 
universal  harvest  of  good,  for  three-quarters  of 


114  THE    PARABLE    OF 

the  seed  so  sown  is  inoperative.  In  the  second 
we  have  not  merely  the  sowing  of  good  seed, 
but  the  dehberate  sowing  of  darnel,  and  the 
Master  distinctly  commanded  that  there  was 
to  be  no  separation  until  the  consummation  of 
the  age.  In  the  parable  of  the  mustard  seed, 
while  its  growing  was  a  symbol  of  good,  its 
false  development  revealed  the  intermixture  of 
evil.  If  these  first  three  parables  teach  that 
this  age  is  not  to  be  characterized  by  perfect 
victory  for  good,  and  if  the  leaven  is  a  type 
of  good,  then  all  the  teaching  of  the  first  three 
is  contradicted  by  that  of  the  fourth. 

A  further  reason  for  my  inability  to  accept 
the  more  general  interpretation  is  that  the  his- 
tory of  the  centuries  and  the  experience  of  the 
present  hour  alike  contradict  that  interpreta- 
tion, and  harmonize  rather  with  the  teaching 
of  the  earlier  parables.  There  has  been  no 
complete  mastery  of  evil  by  good  in  any  part 
of  the  world  in  any  age,  nor  even  in  the  Church 
of  God.  The  mixture  of  the  two  principles  is 
manifest  everywhere.  Finally,  I  cannot  believe 
that  the  teaching  of  the  parable  is  according  to 


THE    LEAVENED    Ml^AL         115 

popular  interpretation,  because  it  would  be  out 
of  harmony  with  the  other  parables  as  to 
method.  It  is  perpetually  insisted  that  Jesus 
said,  "The  Kingdom  of  Heaven  is  like  unto 
leaven,"  and  that  therefore  no  one  has  any 
right  to  say  that  leaven  is  not  typical  of  the 
Kingdom  of  Heaven.  But  in  the  parable  of 
the  darnel  we  read,  'The  Kingdom  of  Heaven 
is  likened  unto  a  man,"  and  here  nobody  sug- 
gests that  the  man  in  that  parable  is  the  type  of 
the  Kingdom  of  Heaven.  It  is  absolutely 
necessary  to  take  the  whole  picture  of  the  man 
sowing  darnel  in  a  field  already  sown  with 
good  seed  in  order  to  understand  the  teaching 
of  the  Lord.  We  have  no  more  right  to  pause 
upon  the  word  ''leaven"  in  the  fourth  parable 
than  upon  the  word  "man"  in  the  second.  If 
the  word  "leaven"  exhausts  the  Master's  teach- 
ing at  this  point  concerning  the  similitude 
which  He  is  suggesting,  then  the  word  "man" 
exhausts  His  thought  in  the  parable  of  the 
darnel  concerning  the  similitude  which  He 
there  sets  up.  The  same  test  may  be  applied  to 
other  parables.    In  a  subsequent  one  the  King 


116  THE    PARABLE    OF 

said,  'The  Kingdom  of  Heaven  is  like  unto  a 
king,"  and  if  we  are  compelled  to  stop  at  the 
word  ''leaven"  in  this  parable,  we  must  do  so 
at  the  word  "king."  It  is  evident,  therefore, 
that  to  understand  the  teaching  the  whole  pic- 
ture must  be  kept  in  mind.  That  picture  is  one 
of  three  measures  of  meal,  of  a  woman  deliber- 
ately hiding  the  leaven  in  the  meal,  and  of  the 
working  of  that  leaven  until  all  the  meal  is 
under  its  influence. 

Now  let  us  examine  the  symbolism.  In 
order  to  do  so  we  inquire  first,  What  is  the 
essential  thing  in  the  picture?  Then,  What 
are  those  matters  which  affect  the  essential 
thing?  As  regards  the  first,  we  reply  that  the 
thing  of  primary  importance  is  not  the  leaven, 
and  not  the  woman,  but  the  three  measures  of 
meal.  The  woman  and  the  leaven  are  consid- 
ered according  to  their  relation  to  the  meal, 
and  the  effect  produced  is  regarded  also  in  its 
relation  to  the  meal,  "Till  it  was  all  leavened." 
Threfore,  the  matter  of  supreme  interest  is  the 
meal,  and  what  happened  to  it.  We  proceed 
to  inquire  then  what  Jesus  meant  by  using  this 


iHE    LEAVENED    MEAL         117 

figure.  It  has  been  correctly  pointed  out  that 
it  is  both  important  and  interesting  to  inter- 
pret any  expression  or  thought  in  Scripture  by 
the  presence  thereof  in  other  parts  of  Scripture, 
and  especially  by  its  first  occurrence.  Follow- 
ing that  principle  of  investigation,  we  find  that 
the  first  occasion  upon  which  the  three  meas- 
ures of  meal  are  mentioned  in  Scriptu^  is  as 
far  back  as  the  book  of  Genesis  (4^  6). 
There  we  have  an  account  of  the  entertain- 
ment of  Jehovah  by  Abraham.  In  one  of  the 
great  Theophanies  of  the  Old  Testament 
Jehovah  manifests  Himself  as  an  angel. 
Whether  Abraham  at  the  moment  knew  Who 
the  visitor  was  I  am  not  prepared  to  af^rm; 
but  recognizing  Him  as  supernatural  he  hast- 
ened to  entertain  Him.  In  order  to  this,  Sarah 
took  three  measures  of  meal  and  prepared  it. 
Passing  on  through  the  Bible  I  find  the  figure 
again  in  connection  with  the  meal  offering. 
For  this  there  was  fixed  a  minimum  and  a 
maximum  amount.  Gideon  brought  an  offer- 
ing, and  Hannah  also,  and  on  each  occasion 
three  measures  of  meal  are  spoken  of.     In  the 


118  THE    PARABLE    OF 

book  of  Ezekiel,  in  connection  with  the  final 
and  perfect  offerings,  seven  times  over  in  one 
brief  instruction  the  amount  of  the  meal  offer- 
ing is  three  measures  of  meal.  In  the  Divine 
economy  the  meal  offering  followed  the  burnt 
offering.  The  burnt  offering  signifies  the  de- 
votion of  the  life  to  God.  The  meal  offering 
was  the  result  of  cultivation,  manufacture,  prep- 
aration, and,  therefore,  so  far  as  man  was  con- 
cerned, always  signified  dedication  of  his  work 
to  God.  Remember,  too,  the  meal  offering  was 
an  offering  of  hospitality;  part  was  retained 
by  the  worshipper  and  part  was  at  the  disposal 
of  the  priest.  In  the  meal  offering,  then,  we 
have  a  symbol  of  the  perfect  communion  estab- 
lished between  the  worshipper  and  God  upon 
the  basis  of  the  worshipper's  service.  From 
the  simple  rites  of  home  life  was  taken  that 
which  was  to  be  the  perpetual  symbol  of  dedi- 
cation to  God  in  service  as  the  ground  of  per- 
petual communion  with  Him. 

In  the  list  of  offerings  it  was  most  explicitly 
commanded  that  no  leaven  was  to  be  mixed 
with  the  meal  offering.     Its  presence  would 


THE    LEAVENED    MEAL         119 

have  been  the  symbol  of  intrusion  of  that  which 
corrupted  into  the  fellowship  of  service.  In 
our  parable,  then,  fellowship  with  God  in 
service  is  seen  to  be  marred  during  the  present 
age  by  the  introduction  of  a  corrupting  influ- 
ence. The  woman  mixing  the  meal  stands  as 
the  representative  of  authority  and  manage- 
ment in  the  matter  of  service  to  God.  Turning 
to  the  le^en,  we  repeat  that  it  is  in  itself  a  cor- 
rupt thing,  and  can  only  exercise  a  corrupting 
influence.  I  know  it  may  be  objected  that  in 
our  common  life  to-day  it  is  used,  as,  for  in- 
stance, in  the  making  of  bread.  It  is,  however, 
by  no  means  certain  that  this  method  is  the  best 
possible.  Just  as  we  are  coming  to  under- 
stand that  the  intrusion  into  the  physical  life 
of  man  of  alcohol  is  in  itself  a  grave  peril,  it 
may  be  that  presently  we  shall  come  to  believe 
that  the  use  of  leaven  is  injurious  physically. 
That  I  am  not  prepared  to  discuss;  it  is  sim- 
ply a  passing  proposition.  The  fact  that  leaven 
is  used  in  certain  ways  to-day  does  not  for  a 
moment  affect  the  simple  truth  that  if  it  have 
its  perfect  outworking  the  result  is  destruction. 


120  THE    PARABLE    OF 

It  is  in  itself  corrupt,  and  is  always  an  agent 
of  corruption.  When  Sarah  prepared  the  meal 
for  the  angel,  it  is  clearly  affirmed  that  she 
mixed  no  leaven  with  it.  Leaven  was  dis- 
tinctly forbidden  in  the  meal  offering,  and 
when  Paul  used  the  figure  of  the  leaven, 
whether  in  reference  to  the  Levitical  code,  the 
Jewish  custom,  or  the  Master's  use  of  it,  it  was 
always  in  the  sense  of  evil.  **Your  glorying  is 
not  good.  Know  ye  not  that  a  little  leaven 
leaveneth  the  whole  lump  ?  Purge  out  the  old 
leaven,  that  ye  may  be  a  new  lump,  even  as 
ye  are  unleavened.  For  our  passover  also 
hath  been  sacrificed,  even  Christ :  wherefore  let 
us  keep  the  feast,  not  with  old  leaven,  neither 
with  the  leaven  of  malice  and  wickedness,  but 
with  the  unleavened  bread  of  sincerity  and 
truth." 

In  the  parable,  then,  we  see  a  woman,  the 
type  of  authority  and  management,  hiding 
leaven,  the  emblem  of  disintegration  and  cor- 
ruption, in  the  meal,  the  symbol  of  service  and 
fellowship.  Such  is  the  principle  of  the  para- 
ble.   What,  then,  according  to  this  interpreta- 


THE    LEAVENED    MEAL         121 

tion,  does  it  teach  ?  It  first  recognizes  that  the 
Kingdom  testimony  in  the  present  age  must  be 
based  upon  the  fellowship  of  the  people  of  God 
with  Him  in  incorruptness ;  that  the  Church 
and  the  individual  can  only  bear  testimony 
which  is  influential  for  the  Kingdom  of  God 
as  they  are  entirely  separated  from  all  that  of 
which  leaven  is  the  symbol.  Underneath  the 
oaks  of  Mamre,  after  participation  in  the  sym- 
bolic meal,  Abraham  stood  talking  face  to  face 
with  the  One  Whom  he  had  entertained. 
There  he  pleaded  for  Sodom,  and  his  right 
of  approach,  his  right  of  appeal,  his  right  of 
argument  were  based  upon  the  fact  of  his  per- 
sonal separation  from  all  the  corrupting  influ- 
ences of  the  country  into  which  he  had  been 
brought,  the  unleavened  cakes  which  Sarah  had 
prepared  being  the  symbol  of  that  separation. 
While  Abraham  thus  interceded  with  Jehovah, 
Lot  was  in  the  midst  of  Sodom;  a  righteous 
man,  according  to  the  teaching  of  Peter  in  his 
epistle,  and  yet  utterly  without  influence  for 
good  in  the  city.  Lot  could  do  nothing  for 
Sodom.     He  could  not  lift  it.    He  could  not 


122  THE    PARABLE    OF 

persuade  it.  He  could  not  save  it.  If  the 
city  was  nearly  saved,  it  was  not  by  the  influ- 
ence of  Lot,  but  by  the  intercession  of  Abra- 
ham. Lot,  though  a  good  man  in  his  personal 
attitude  and  in  his  deepest  intention,  had  cor- 
rupted his  testimony  and  lost  his  power  by  ad- 
mitting the  influences  of  Sodom  into  his  heart. 
Abraham,  on  the  other  hand,  living  in  separa- 
tion from  its  sin,  had  maintained  his  power  to 
pray  for  Sodom.  Similarly  in  the  teaching  of 
the  parable.  The  Kingdom  testimony  depends 
upon  separation.  It  follows  by  necessary 
sequence  that  testimony  for  the  King  is  weak- 
ened in  the  measure  in  which  the  Church  in 
her  management  of  her  own  afifairs — the 
woman  becoming  the  type  of  ecclesiastical 
government — is  weakened  by  the  intrusion  of 
such  motives  and  methods  as  are  worldly. 

The  use  of  the  word  ''leaven"  in  the  New 
Testament  is  most  remarkable.  Its  first  occur- 
rence, in  the  actual  reading  of  the  books  rather 
than  in  the  chronology  of  events,  is  in  our  text. 
Later  on,  as  the  King  came  to  Csesarea 
Philippi,  and  approached  the  crisis  when  the 


THE    LEAVENED    MEAL         123 

period  of  His  propaganda  merged  into  that  of 
His  Passion,  He  warned  His  disciples  to  "Be- 
ware of  the  leaven  of  the  Pharisees  and  Sad- 
ducees."  Mark  tells  us  that  He  said,  ''Beware 
of  the  leaven  of  the  Pharisees,  and  the  leaven 
of  Herod";  while  Luke  reports  Him  as  saying, 
"Beware  ye  of  the  leaven  of  the  Pharisees, 
which  is  hypocrisy."  Coming  to  the  letter  to 
the  Corinthians,  from  which  I  have  already 
quoted,  Paul  uses  the  figure  in  connection  with 
the  toleration  in  the  Church  of  an  incestuous 
person,  and  the  lack  of  discipline  which  char- 
acterized that  toleration.  Yet  again,  in  the 
Galatian  epistle,  in  combating  the  influence 
of  Judaizing  teachers,  Paul  declared,  "A  little 
leaven  leaveneth  the  whole  lump."  These 
references  exhaust  the  use  of  the  figure  in  the 
New  Testament.  Thus  in  the  Old  and  New 
alike,  leaven  is  the  symbol  of  that  against  which 
the  men  of  faith  are  to  guard.  From  these 
references  we  may  clearly  see  its  evil  nature. 
Christ  distinctly  affirmed  that  the  leaven  of  the 
Pharisees  was  hypocrisy;  that  is,  the  acting  of 
a  part,  professing  to  be  something  which  one 


124  THE    PARABLE    OF 

really  is  not,  the  uttering  with  the  lips  of  cer- 
tain formulae  of  devotion  while  the  heart  is 
not  subject  to  the  King.  The  leaven  of  the 
Sadducees  was  that  of  rationalism.  They 
denied  angel,  spirit,  resurrection.  The  leaven 
of  Herod  was  that  of  materialism,  govern- 
ment by  the  manifestation  of  material  splen- 
dour. He  overawed  his  people  by  pageantry 
and  display.  Ignoring  true  greatness,  he  laid 
all  emphasis  upon  external  magnificence,  and 
the  result  was  the  utter  corruption  of  his 
empire. 

According  to  Paul,  leaven  was  the  symbol  of 
the  toleration  of  evil  inside  the  Church.  He 
used  it  in  connection  with  a  man  living  in 
actual  impurity,  to  whom  had  been  given  the 
shelter  of  her  fellowship.  Again,  leaven  was 
the  type  of  formalism,  and  of  return  to  such 
ritualistic  practices  as  robbed  religion  of  its 
spirit  and  life. 

To  summarize,  the  New  Testament  teaches 
that  hypocrisy  is  leaven;  rationalism  is  leaven; 
a  material  idea  of  government  is  leaven;  tolera- 
tion of  evil  within  the  borders  of  the  Church  is 


THE    LEAVENED    MEAL         125 

leaven;  for^ialism  is  leaven.  Any  or  all  of 
these  things  serve  to  break  up  the  life  of  the 
Church,  and  a  weakened  testimony  results. 
They  constitute  a  ferment,  a  disturbance,  a 
disintegration.  Wherever  the  Church  has 
come  under  the  influence  of  such  evils,  cor- 
ruption has  spread  throughout,  manifested  in 
spoiled  lives  and  feeble  witness  to  the  Kingdom 
of  God. 

If  we  turn  from  this  interpretation  of  our 
parable  to  the  facts  of  history,  what  do  we 
find?  Has  it  not  been  the  case  that  the 
Church's  power  to  speak  authoritatively  of  the 
mystery  of  God,  and  to  exhibit  the  benefits  and 
enforce  the  claims  of  the  Kingdom  in  the 
world,  has  been  paralysed  by  the  evil  things  of 
which  the  New  Testament  clearly  teaches 
leaven  to  be  the  symbol?  Is  it  not  true 
that  at  the  present  moment  the  Church's 
power  to  bring  the  world  under  convic- 
tion concerning  the  Kingdom  of  God  is 
feeble  because  of  her  complicity  with  evil 
things  ?  She  is  still  weakened  by  the  leaven  of 
hypocrisy,  which  is  profession  without  posses- 


126  THE    PAKABLE    OF 

sion:  by  the  leaven  of  rationalism,  which  is 
denial  of  the  supernatural:  by  the  leaven  of 
materialism,  which  is  the  adoption  of  the 
world's  standpoints  and  principles,  making  the 
fact  of  Christ  one  of  ostentation  rather  than  one 
of  purity  and  power.  And  is  it  not  true  that 
not  least  among  the  leavening  influences  at 
work  is  that  weak  toleration  of  evil,  and  false 
pity  for  the  wrongdoer  which  allows  him  to 
stay  within  her  borders,  making  her  incapable 
of  speaking  with  authority  to  those  in  rebellion 
against  the  Kingdom  of  God  ?  Moreover,  is  it 
not  true  that  formalism  in  a  thousand  different 
forms,  expressing  the  widespread  hankering 
after  ritual,  is  a  leavening  force  to-day,  mar- 
ring our  testimony  and  spoiling  our  service  of 
God  which  can  only  be  effectual  when  based 
upon  our  own  separation  to  Him? 

In  this  connection  I  say,  as  I  have  said  in 
dealing  with  former  parables,  that  this  is  not 
a  picture  of  the  final  fact  concerning  the  King- 
dom of  God.  It  is  a  picture  of  the  age  which 
ends  with  the  advent.  *'When  the  Son  of 
Man  Cometh,  shall  He  find  faith  on  the  earth  ?" 


THE    LEAVENED    MEAL         127 

The  popular  answer  of  theology  is,  Yes. 
Christ's  answer  is,  No;  and  it  is  infinitely  bet- 
ter in  order  to  do  our  work  as  it  ought  to  be 
done,  that  we  should  accept  His  estimate  of  our 
age.  It  may  be  objected  that  this  outlook  is 
pessimistic  in  the  extreme.  It  would  be,  in- 
deed, if  this  age  were  the  final  one;  but  it  is 
not  so,  it  is  only  initial.  Beyond  the  flaming 
of  His  advent  feet  will  come  the  Kingdom  ad- 
ministration of  the  King's  own  presence.  For 
that  the  world  is  waiting,  and  that  we,  by  con- 
secration, are  attempting  to  hasten. 

Thus  far  we  have  considered  the  first  four 
parables,  those  spoken  to  the  disciples  in  the 
hearing  of  the  multitudes.  In  them,  two  things 
are  made  perfectly  clear.  First,  that  the  King- 
dom influence  is  to  be  felt  from  beginning  to 
end  of  the  age.  The  Son  of  Man  sows  His 
good  seed  and  waits  for  the  harvest;  and  there 
is  relationship  to  God  on  the  part  of  His  own 
in  separation  and  service.  We  have  also  seen 
that  throughout  the  age  there  is  present  and  at 
work  the  principle  of  evil.  Three-fourths  of 
the  good  seed  fails  of  harvest,  and  the  enemy 


128         THE    LEAVENED    MEAL 

deliberately  intermixes  with  the  wheat  the 
darnel.  There  is  a  false  development  even  of 
the  good  into  ostentatious  display  which  is  out 
of  harmony  with  the  true  spirit  of  the  King. 
The  meal  offering  of  fellowship  in  service  is 
corrupted  by  the  intrusion  of  the  leaven  of 
impurity. 

There  are  other  aspects  of  this  age  to  which' 
we  now  come  in  parables  addressed  only  to 
those  who  were  His  own  disciples. 


THE  PARABLE  OF  THE 
HIDDEN  TREASURE 


'^The  Kingdom  of  Heaven  is  like  unto  a  treasure  hid- 
den in  the  field,  which  a  man  found  and  hid;  and  in  his 
joy  he  goeth  and  selleth  all  that  he  hath,  and  buyeth 
that  -field." — Matthew  xiii.  44. 


VII 

THE  PARABLE  OF  THE  HIDDEN 
TREASURE 

We  now  turn  to  the  second  section  of  the  para- 
bles, that  is,  to  those  which  the  King  uttered 
to  His  disciples  alone.  Having  left  the  multi- 
tudes. His  disciples  gathered  about  Him  in  the 
quietness  of  the  house.  There,  first  in  answer 
to  the  request  they  preferred.  He  explained  to 
them  the  parable  of  the  darnel,  and  then  pro- 
ceeded to  give  them  further  instruction. 

As  we  turn  to  the  consideration  of  these 
parables  we  must  still  bear  in  mind  that  our 
Lord  is  dealing  with  the  subject  of  the  King- 
dom in  the  age  between  His  advents.  The 
view-point  now,  however,  is  changed.  There 
are  distinct  differences  between  the  first  four 
and  the  last  four  parables.  In  the  first  series 
the  King  was  addressing  Himself  especially  to 
131 


132  THE    PARABLE    OF 

men  of  sight,  to  those  who  would  watch  events, 
to  those  who,  in  all  probability,  would  be  in- 
tellectually interested  in  the  progress  or  failure 
of  the  Kingdom  He  had  preached;  that  is,  to 
men  who  were  not  in  the  Kingdom,  but  who 
viewed  it  from  the  outside  as  interested  spec- 
tators. He  had  therefore  dealt  with  such 
aspects  of  the  Kingdom  as  would  be  patent  to 
all  observers — the  different  results  dependent 
upon  the  quality  of  the  seed,  the  enemy's  imita- 
tion, the  unnatural  development  of  the  King- 
dom principle  into  material  power,  the  corrup- 
tion of  the  Church's  influence  by  the  introduc- 
tion of  wrong  methods.  All  these  have  been 
evident  to  those  who  have  watched  in  every 
successive  age. 

Now,  in  the  parables  which  remain,  the  King 
addresses  Himself  no  longer  to  men  of  sight. 
He  speaks  from  this  moment  exclusively  to 
men  of  faith,  to  such  as  live  not  merely  in  the 
consciousness  of  things  seen,  but  in  the  confi- 
dence of  things  unseen.  Therefore,  as  in 
speaking  to  the  men  of  sight  He  had  dealt  with 
the  evident  things  of  the  Kingdom,  so  in  speak- 


THE    HIDDEN    TREASURE      133 

ing  to  men  of  faith  He  set  forth  the  hidden 
things  of  the  Kingdom.  Having  declared 
what  the  external  manifestation  of  the  King- 
dom would  be  in  this  age,  He  proceeded  to 
show  to  His  own  circle  of  disciples  what  God 
is  accomplishing.  The  parables  we  are  con- 
sidering, therefore,  will  teach  us  the  specific 
values  of  the  Kingdom  in  this  age,  from  the 
standpoint  of  the  Divine  purpose  and  economy. 
Let  us  then  pause  to  glance  in  broad  outline  at 
these  parables  which  we  are  about  to  consider. 
The  first  one  sets  forth  the  relation  of  this 
age  to  the  purpose  of  God  for  the  whole  world. 
His  great  sentence  is  '*He  .  .  .  buyeth  that 
field.''  In  the  parable  of  the  pearl  we  see  the 
relation  of  this  age  to  other  spheres  and  other 
ages.  It  is  the  story  of  the  gathering  out  from 
this  age  of  all  the  precious  treasure  which  is  to 
belong  to  succeeding  ages,  and  in  them  to  have 
its  mission.  In  the  parable  of  the  drag-net 
there  is  revealed  the  method  of  this  age  in  the 
economy  of  God.  Finally,  the  parable  of  the 
householder,  bringing  things  new  and  old  out 
of  his  treasure  house,  indicates  the  responsi- 


/v^ 


134  THE    PAEABLE    OF 

bility  of  the  disciples  in  this  age,  in  view  of  the 
teaching  of  all  the  former  parables. 

In  considering  the  first  in  order,  the  parable 
of  the  treasure,  we  shall  follow  our  usual  habit, 
and  notice,  first,  the  picture  presented.  In 
doingjo,  we  must  still  bear  m_mind Ihfi^rin- 
^-^U^^jjL  ,  ciple  insisted_upon,  of  the^cojrisistency  main- 
f*'^  tainedjn  the  use  of  thejiguresjn  these  ^parables 
as_throughou^^_the^ible.  Bearing  this  in 
mind,  we  find  two  figures  we  have  already  met 
with,  and  which  have  had  explanation.  There 
are  also  two  new  figures  at  which  we  shall 
specially  look.  The  figures  already  used  are 
those  of  the  fiel^  and  the  man.  The  field  has 
appeared  before,  and  we  have  seen  the  Son  of 
Man  sowing  therein  His  good  seed,  and  the 
enemy  sowing  his  darnel.  We  have,  moreover, 
seen  the  mustard  seed  planted  in  the  field. 
What  the  field  was  in  the  earlier  parables,  it  is 
also  in  this.  We  go  back  to  our  Lord's  direct 
explanation — "The  field  is  the  world."  The 
field,  therefore,  in  which  the  treasure  was  dis- 
covered and  hidden  is  the  world.  The  second 
thing  in  this  parable  which  we  have  met  with 


.THE    HIDDEN    TREASURE      135 

before,  is  the  man.  In  each  case  he  has  been 
the  King  Himself — the  sower  of  the  seed  in  the 
first  parable,  the  man  who  sowed  the  good  seed 
in  the  second,  and  again,  the  man  sowing  the 
mustard  seed.  The  man,  then,  in  this  parable 
who  finds  the  treasure  and  then  hides  it,  is  the 
Son  of  Man  Himself.  Of  the  new  elements  in 
the  parable,  the  first  is  that  of  the  t^asure, 
hidden  in  the  field,  discovered,  and  hidden 
again.  The  second  element,  which  is  new,  is 
that  of  purchase,  and  purchase  at  cost,  ''He 
goeth  and  selleth  all  that  he  hath,  and  buyeth 
that  field."  This  presence  of  two  old  figures 
with  the  two  new  ones  in  our  parable  should 
help  us  in  the  study  of  it.  On  two  points  we 
are  relieved  of  the  necessity  for  speculation. 
Concerning  the  field  and  the  man,  we  start  with 
light  already  in  our  possession.  I  think,  in  the 
light  of  these  things,  we  may  now  discuss  the 
new  figures,  those  of  the  treasure  and  of  pur- 
chase. 

jit  will  immediately  be  seen  that  our  inter- 
pretation of  the  parable  will  conflict  with  the 
popular  conception  of  its  meaning,";  which  ex- 


136  THE    PARABLE    OF 

plains  both  the  treasure  in  this  parable  and  the 
pearl  in  the  next  as  a  type  of  salvation,  or 
Christ.  If  that  be  so,  then  the  man  who  found 
the  treasure  in  one  case,  and  the  pearl  in  the 
other,  is  the  sinner.  Any  such  view  contradicts 
the  figurative  language  of  the  earlier  parables, 
and  js  indeed  nothing  short  of  absurd.  It  may 
be  said  that  this  is  a  strong  statement  to  make. 
I  make  it,  nevertheless,  without  hesitation.  If, 
indeed,  the  hidden  treasure  is  salvation,  and  I 
am  the  man  who  finds,  then  I  am  able  to  pur- 
chase that  which  contains  my  salvation,  and 
am  saved  by  selling  all  I  have.  My  own  con- 
ception of  my  true  position  is  that  when  I  seek 
for  salvation,  my  condition  is  bankrupt,  and  I 
can  only  obtain  it  as  the  free  gift  of  God's 
grace.  If  the  hymn  which  we  have  sometimes 
sung  be  true — 

I've  found  the  pearl  of  greatest  price  I 

My  heart  doth  sing  for  joy; 
And  sing  I  must,  for  Christ  is  mine! 

Christ  shall  my  song  employ, 

then  it  is  possible  for  me  out  of  something  I 
possess  to  purchase  Jesus  Christ.     It  surely 


THE    HIDDEN    TREASURE      137 

needs  no  argument  to  prove  that  there  is  no 
warrant  in  Scripture,  or  indeed  in  the  experi- 
ence of  men,  for  accepting  such  a  view  of  the 
method  of  salvation. 

Claiming,  then,  that  the  two  figures  referred 
to  have  their  true  explanation  in  the  use  made 
of  them  in  the  earlier  parables,  we  affirm  that 
the  rnan  who  found  the  treasure  is  Christ,  and 
that  the  field  in  which  He  hid  the  treasure  is 
the  world.  We  turn  at  once  to  the  teaching  of 
the  parable  concerning  the  treasure,  and  con- 
cerning its  purchase. 

If  we  think  in  all  simplicity  of  the  field  as 
the  world,  there  can  be  very  little  difficulty  in 
discovering  what  the  treasure  is  which  the 
King  finds  therein.  That  hidden  treasure  is 
the  latent  possibility  in  the  world  of  the  realiza- 
tion of  the  Kingship  and  government  of  God. 
The  principles  of  that  government,  the  order 
of  that  government,  and  the  beauty  of  that 
government  all  constitute  the  treasure  hidden 
in  the  world.  The  world  is  made  for  the  dis- 
play of  the  Kingdom  and  government  of  God. 
The  being  whom  God  placed  in  dominion  is  in 


138  THE    PAKABLE    OF 

rebellion  against  Him,  and  therefore  the  whole 
territory  lies  waste,  failing  to  realize,  and 
therefore  failing  to  manifest,  the  breadth  and 
beauty  and  beneficence  of  the  Kingdom  of  God. 
Supposing,  for  the  sake  of  argument,  that  this 
world  is  under  observation  by  other  worlds, 
does  it  reveal  these  things?  It  may  be  said 
that  this  is  a  piece  of  gratuitous  imagination, 
but  I  submit  that  it  is  quite  in  order,  for  if  we 
do  not  know  that  other  worlds  are  observing 
ours,  revelation  has  assured  us  that  the 
^'angels  desire  to  look  into  these  things,"  and  it 
is  impossible  not  to  believe  that  the  earth  is  the 
centre  of  observation  in  the  universe  of  God. 
My  question  then  is,  supposing  other  worlds 
are  watching  this  world,  does  the  present  con- 
dition of  things  exhibit  the  glory  of  the  Divine 
government?  There  are  some  aspects,  some 
places,  and  some  matters,  concerning  which 
of  course  our  answer  would  have  to  be.  Yes. 
For  eyes  which  are  clear  enough  to  see,  every 
flower  that  decks  the  sod  exhibits  the  glory  of 
the  Divine  government;  and  the  coming  of 
seed-time  and  harvest,  and  the  regular  rota- 


THE    HIDDEN    TREASURE      139 

tion  of  the  seasons,  attest  the  perfection  of  His 
rule.  But  in  all  the  higher  facts  of  life  is  there 
not  everywhere  manifest  a  condition  of  chaos? 
Taking  men,  not  in  any  individual  case,  or 
even,  perhaps,  in  the  small  circle  of  personal 
friendship,  but  in  the  broad  outlook  upon  hu- 
manity as  a  whole,  does  the  human  race  ex- 
hibit the  glory  of  God's  Kingship?  Are  there 
not  in  the  world  habitations  of  cruelty?  Are 
there  not  places  where  darkness  dwells  and 
devilry  obtains?  Or  if  we  come  to  the  places 
upon  w^hich  the  light  is  falling,  do  we  not  find 
that  what  we  call  civilization  is  endeavouring 
to  make  unrighteous  profit  out  of  the  uncivi- 
lized? I  imagine  that  were  I  a  visitor  from 
some  other  planet  I  should  be  inclined  to  say, 
Where  is  God?  The  earth  is  made  for  Him. 
It  is  His,  and  in  every  blade  of  grass  there 
thrill  the  forces  of  His  life,  and  every  flower 
sings  the  song  of  His  glory,  but  when  I  come 
to  examine  the  men  who  should  be  supremely 
expressing  the  fact  of  God's  government,  I 
cannot  discern  the  glory  of  the  Kingdom.  It  is 
not  yet  clearly  manifest.     The  world  does  not 


140  THE    PARABLE    OP 

know  it  experimentally,  and  cannot  therefore 
reveal  what  the  Kingdom  of  God  really  means. 
We  sing  of  it,  and  speak  of  it,  and  imagine  that 
we  see  it  in  the  light  of  morning,  and  the  dark- 
ness of  night.  It  has  been  the  perpetual  re- 
frain of  the  song  of  prophets,  seers,  and 
psalmists;  but  experimentally  the  world  has  not 
found  it.  It  is  the  supreme  fact,  and  yet  it  is 
hidden. 

But  the  man  in  the  parable  found  it.  The 
finding^was  not  a  discovery  whichstartledjiim. 
^f  };^\ '  i  HeJcnew_j;hat_the_fieLd  cqntamed^the^^treasu^ 
and  he  came  deliberately  to  seek  it.  What  does 
this  parable  suggest  concerning  the  Kingdom? 
First,  that  the  King  knew  this  hidden  fact  of 
the  government  of  God  in  the  world.  He, 
looking  through  the  chaos,  clearly  saw  the 
cosmos.  He,  looking  at  the  sheep  scattered 
and  harried  by  wolves,  saw  through  and  be- 
yond the  vision  to  the  still  waters  and  quiet 
resting-places  and  the  flock  of  God  shepherded 
from  all  harm.  He  saw  the  Kingdom  as  it 
ought  to  be  through  the  Kingdom  as  it  was. 
He  knew  the  hidden  secret  of  the  world.    This 


THE    HIDDEN    TREASURE      141 

is  one  of  the  fundamental  truths  necessary  to 
the  understanding  of  all  Christ's  work,  and 
necessary,  moreover,  to  any  co-operation  with 
Him  in  service.  What  is  equal  to  the  sus- 
tenance of  the  heart  in  strength  in  the  midst  of 
the  travail  and  toil  of  Christian  service  ?  Sim- 
ply a  clear  vision  of  the  Divine  possibility 
which  lies  behind  all  the  desire,  both  in  the  case 
of  the  individual  and  of  the  world  at  large. 
It  was  this  hidden  treasure  which  this  man 
knew  of  and  brought  to  light.  He  knew  that 
where  ruin  reigned,  order  might  prevail.  He 
saw  that  every  man,  and  all  society,  yes,  and 
every  blade  of  grass,  and  every  inch  of  earthly 
territory,  were  of  God  and  through  God,  and 
could  only  realize  their  latent  possibilities  in 
relation  to  His  Kingship.  He  discovered  in 
the  worlcl/the  treasure,  the  Kingdom  ideaj 

Jesus  exhibited  this  in  strange  ways  during 
His  ministry.  He  declared  it  with  unceasing 
Iteration.  His  one  message  as  He  passed  from 
place  to  place  was  that  of  the  Kingdom  of 
God.  Flowers?  God  clothed  them.  Chil- 
dren?   God's   angels   guarded   them.     Men? 


142  THE    PARABLE    OP 

God's  Kingdom  was  their  first  concern.  He 
saw  that  everything  was  in  God  and  of  God, 
and  He  set  Himself  to  tell  men  that  God  is 
King.  He  revealed  in  the  flashes  of  His  sim- 
plest sentences  and  in  the  glory  of  His  set 
discourses  the  truth  concerning  the  unrealized 
values  of  the  world.  He  came  into  the  field  in 
which  His  treasure  was  hidden.  It  existed 
though  men  did  not  know  it.  Every  man  was 
capable  of  God's  government.  All  society 
was  waiting  for  the  recognition  of  the  throne. 
The  whole  world  needed  the  Divine  adminis- 
tration. But  all  this  was  hidden  from  the  eyes 
of  men.  Men  were  in  rebellion,  nature  was  in 
rebellion.  Sin  and  sighing  were  everywhere. 
Or,  to  put  the  whole  fact  in  the  forceful  lan- 
guage of  the  apostle,  "The  whole  creation 
groaneth  and  travaileth  in  pain  together  until 
now."  Behind  the  ruin  He  saw  the  possibility, 
and  in  teaching  and  doing  He  discovered  this 
possibility  to  His  age  and  all  subsequent  ages. 
In  His  personal  life  He  realized  all  that  the 
psalmist  declared  concerning  man  (Psalm 
viii).      He  had  dominion  over  fish  and  fowl, 


THE    HIDDEN    TREASURE      143 

and  over  the  beasts  of  the  field.  In  the  hour 
of  His  temptation  He  was  "with  the  wild 
beasts."  That  is  not  a  statement  inspiring 
terror,  but  revealing  a  truth  full  of  beauty. 
He  was  with  them  in  comradeship,  Master  of 
them,  because  He  was  God's  perfect  Man. 

If  this  Man  came  and  discovered  treasure, 
He  also  hid  it.     Here  perhaps  is  the  touch  of 
greatest  mystery  in  our  parable.    It  affirms  the 
hiding  of  the  treasure  discovered.    What  have 
we  that  is  parallel  to  this  in  the  case  of  Christ  ? 
If  we  think  of  His  ministry  and  interpret  our 
parable  in  the  light  of  it,  we  shall  find  that  this 
is  exactly  what  He  did.    He  Who  called  people 
to  the  Kingdom  of  God,  because  of  their  re- 
fusal, because  of  their  rejection  of  Him  as 
King,  shut  the  door  of  the  Kingdom  and  post- 
poned its  full  realization.     By  solemn  act  He  A 
rejected  the  nation,   pronounced  eight   woes         ,  <5'  V^ 
over  against  His  eight  beatitudes,  announced   ^o  ^   o^'^  A 
the  doom  of  Jerusalem,  flung  out  the  city  from     *^'ifl^^  >  1«  " 
the  place  of  government,  and  postponed  for  the          rh^ 
world  the  coming  of  His  Kingdom.    This  is  a      ^  *^ 
principle  and  philosophy  which  must  not  be      \  S'^^ 

4cK" 


144  THE    PARABLE    OF 

forgotten.  So  long  as  the  King  is  rejected  the 
Kingdom  cannot  be  realized.  In  the  history 
of  Christianity  this  is  manifest.  He  came  into 
His  field,  He  discovered  the  fact  of  its  pro- 
foundest  possibility,  its  hidden  treasure,  and 
then  He  hid  it  from  the  eyes  of  men. 

This  parable  does  not  cover  all  the  ground. 
There  are  other  things  not  dealt  with  here.  It 
does,  however,  simply  reveal  to  us  what  is  the 
relationship  of  the  Kingdom  of  God  to  this 
age.  This  is  the  age  which  rejects  Christ.  It 
is  the  age  of  the  Church,  which  cannot,  if  it 
would,  set  up  the  Kingdom  finally.  The 
Church  can  prepare  for  the  setting  up  of  the 
Kingdom ;  that  is  part  of  its  business.  Indeed, 
rit  is  to  set  up  the  Kingdom  within  its  own 
borders.  It  is  to  realize  its  principles,  and  re- 
veal its  beauties,  and  call  men  individually  into 
relationship  with  it.  But  socially,  and  by  act 
of  Parliament,  even  the  Church  cannot  estab- 
lish the  Kingdom  of  God.  That  will  be  done 
eventually,  but  only  by  the  King  Himself. 
Our  hope  for  the  world  is  in  the  coming  of 
the  King  to  rule  with  a  rod  of  iron.    I  never 


THE    HIDDEN   TREASURE      145 

quite  understand  why  men  tremble  when  they 
hear  that  He  rules  with  a  rod  of  iron.  The 
rod  of  iron  is  not  a  terrible  thing.  It  is  that 
which  is  perfect  in  its  straightness,  inflexible 
in  its  rule.  We  thank  God  for  One  Who  will 
rule  with  a  rod  of  iron.  The  world  has  suf- 
fered so  long  from  ruling  by  reeds  which  bend 
and  break.  It  has  been  cursed  for  ages  by 
india-rubber  government.  Oh,  for  the  dawn-  ^ 
ing  of  the  day  of  the  iron  rule!  ' 

But  it  is  not  yet.  The  King  has  hidden  the 
Kingdom  as  to  outward  realization.  It  may 
be  said  in  objection  that  according  to  this  view 
He  is  defeated,  and  has  abandoned  the  world. 
By  no  means.  Finish  the  parable,  and  you  see 
the  final  action  of  the  man  who  found  the  treas- 
ure. Having  found  it,  and  deliberately  hidden 
it  again,  he  purchased  not  the  treasure  only, 
but  the  whole  field. 

Carefully  notice  the  ^assion^^ which  lay  be- 
hind the  purchase — "In  his  joy."  Notice, 
moreover,  the  price  paid — *'all  that  he  had." 
Notice,  finally,  the  purchase—* 'He  .  ,  . 
buyeth  that  field." 


146  THE    PARABLE    OF 

First  then,  how  came  that  joy  of  heart  in  the 
finding  of  the  treasure  ?  The  question  can  only 
be  answered  by  asking  another.  What  was 
the  treasure,  the  finding  of  which  filled  Him 
with  joy?  It  was  the  certainty  of  the  possi- 
bility of  setting  up  the  government  of  God. 
That  was  always  the  joy  of  Jesus.  It  is  His 
personal  word,  "1  delight  to  do  Thy  will,  O 
my  God."  Concerning  that  thought  we  may 
get  light  from  the  great  classic  passage  in  the 
letter  to  the  Hebrews.  The  writer  had  been 
speaking  of  the  men  of  faith  who  had  seen  in 
the  dim  distance  the  city  of  God,  of  the  men 
who  had  turned  their  backs  upon  the  failure 
all  about  them,  and  lifted  their  faces  towards 
the  light  of  God's  great  city.  Having  spoken 
of  such  he  wrote :  'Therefore  let  us  also,  see- 
ing we  are  compassed  about  with  so  great  a 
cloud  of  witnesses,  lay  aside  every  weight,  and 
the  sin  which  doth  so  easily  beset  us,  and  let 
us  run  with  patience  the  race  that  is  set  before 
us,  looking  unto  Jesus  the  Author  and  File- 
leader'of  faith,  Who  for  the  joy  that  was  set 
before    Him    endured    the    Cross,    despising 


THE    HIDDEN    TKEASURE      147 

shame,  and  hath  sat  down  at  the  right  hand  of 
the  throne  of  God."  What  was  the  joy? 
That  of  the  certainty  that  after  the  passion 
should  come  the  fulfilment  of  purpose — the 
building  of  the  city  of  God,  or,  in  other  words, 
the  realization  in  the  world  of  the  Kingdom  of 
God.  For  that  joy  He  sold  all  that  He  had. 
The  joy  which  constituted  the  strength  of  the 
Cross  was  the  joy  of  leading  back  to  God  in 
reconciliation  that  which  had  wandered  from 
Him.  He  came  down  into  the  world,  and  knew 
its  possibility,  knew  its  hidden  treasure;  but 
He  knew  that  after  all  it  was  bound  by  chains 
of  gold  to  the  throne  of  God,  and  that  its 
anthem  could  only  be  perfectly  sung  as  it  real- 
ized its  fundamental  relationship,  and  answered 
it  in  full  surrender.  He  recognized  that  every 
man  was  capable  of  worship,  and  the  whole 
social  order  of  a  perfect  realization,  and  the 
whole  world  of  singing  the  anthem  of  God's 
praise.  The  joy  of  that  certainty  was  the 
strength  in  which  He  "endured  the  cross, 
despising  shame." 

The  man  in  the  parable  sold  all  that  he  had. 


148  THE    PARABLE    OF 

The  equivalent  to  that  in  the  case  of  Jesus  is : 
He  "emptied  Himself/'  and  made  Himself  of 
no  reputation.  Who  "endured  the  cross,  de- 
spising shame."  By  this  infinite  sacrifice  He 
purchased  the  whole  field.  The  whole  world  is 
redeemed,  waiting  to  be  claimed.  That  sacri- 
fice was  necessary.  Had  Jesus  Christ  re- 
mained an  ethical  Teacher  merely,  He  could 
not  have  set  up  God's  Kingdom.  There  must 
be  the  intrusion  into  the  ruin  of  a  new  regen- 
erative dynamic.  He  must  change  the  nature 
of  the  dog  ere  it  can  appreciate  holy  things. 
He  must  refashion  and  absolutely  change  the 
nature  of  the  swine  ere  pearls  will  have  any 
value.  /He  bought  the  whole  field  at  cost,  and 
in  infinite  wisdom  hid  the  treasure  for  a  while!) 
I  should  like  to  say  one  word  in  this  connec- 
tion concerning  the  word  bought  or  purchased, 
NeyerNt;ead  into  th^^^  as  it  Represents  the 

work  of  Jesus  anything  merely  of  a^commercial 
nature)  To  do  so  is  to  bring  oneself  into  in- 
extricable confusion.  We  shall  ask  from 
whom  He  purchased  the  field.  I  have  even 
heard  it  said  that  He  purchased  it  from  the 


THE   HIDDEN   TREASURE      149 

devil.  Never!  He  never  granted  the  devil's 
right  to  it.  He  never  paid  to  the  devil  any  price 
for  the  possession  of  the  world.  Then  I  hear 
it  said  that  He  purchased  it  from  God.  He 
was  God.  There  was  never  the  slightest  dif- 
ference between  Himself  and  God.  He  did  not 
attempt  to  persuade  God  to  any  new  line  of 
action,  or  to  any  line  of  action  out  of  harmony 
with  His  own  nature.  It  is  impossible  to  read 
into  this  merely  a  commercial  explanation. 
There  is  a  use  of  the  word  which  is  more  in 
harmony  with  its  intention  here.  A  man  finds 
himself  beset  by  robbers,  and,  speaking  after- 
wards of  the  peril,  he  declares  that  he  deter- 
mined to  sell  his  life  dearly.  That  is  the  true 
figurative  use  of  the  word.  Or  another  man, 
who  has  rescued  some  precious  thing  at  the 
cost  of  suffering,  declares  he  has  purchased  it  at 
great  price.  We  know  that  in  neither  case  is 
there  the  thought  of  purchase  by  commercial 
interchange,  but  that  of  securing  the  desired 
thing  by  strife  and  tears  and  pain.  In  that 
sense  Christ  purchased.  We  "were  redeemed, 
not   with   corruptible   things,   with   silver  or 


150  THE    PARABLE    OP 

gold** — ^that  is  commercialism — "buf  with 
precious  blood  .  .  .  even  the  blood  of 
Christ.'*  That  blood  was  not  handed  over  to 
meet  the  devil's  demand,  nor  even  to  persuade 
God,  That  outpouring  of  blood  was  the  ma- 
terial  realization  of  that  passion  of  God 
through  which  the  world  in  which  the  treasure 
was  hidden  might  be  redeemed  by  passion,  at 
the  deepest  heart  of  which  is  joy,  and  the  ex- 
pression of  which  is  pain. 

The  man  of  faith  will  be  conscious  of  all 
that  the  man  of  sight  sees  in  this  particular 
age.  Yet  the  things  of  sight  cannot  make  the 
man  of  faith  hopeless,  because  he  has  heard  the 
teaching  of  this  parable.  It  is  not  final  teach- 
ing. Nothing  is  here  said  of  future  methods, 
but  enough  is  said  to  steady  my  heart  and 
strengthen  my  endeavour. 

It  gives  me  Christ's  estimate  of  possibility. 
Christ's  purchase  of  the  world  makes  Him 
possessor  of  the  world,  and  that  is  the  guaran- 
tee of  His  ultimate  realization  of  all  upon 
which  His  heart  is  set.  If  in  the  one  point  of 
His  hiding  the  treasure  for  a  while  there  is  an 


THE    HIDDEN    TREASURE      151 

element  of  mystery,  I  am  still  perfectly  sure  of 
its  infinite  wisdom,  and  I  know  that  presently, 
as  a  result,  the  manifestation  will  be  more 
perfect  and  more  glorious.  Yet,  finally,  re- 
member He  does  not  hide  from  faith.  To 
trust  Him  is  to  have  revealed  in  the  deepest 
life  the  glory  of  the  Kingdom  upon  which  His 
heart  is  set.  He  will  kindle  in  the  heart  of  the 
faithful  the  joy  which  made  Him  endure,  and 
so  equip  them  also  for  that  suffering  with  Him 
which  must  eventuate  in  triumph  with  Him. 


THE  PARABLE  OF  THE  PEARL 


^'Again,  the  Kingdom  of  Heaven  is  like  unto  a  man 
that  is  a  merchant  seeking  goodly  pearls:  and  having 
found  one  pearl  of  great  price,  he  went  and  sold  all 
that  he  had,  and  bought  tV/'— -Matthew  xiii,  45,  46. 


VIII 

THE  PARABLE  OF  THE  PEARL 

The  parable  of  the  pearl,  while  most  evidently- 
kin  to  that  of  the  hidden  treasure,  is  in  advance 
of  it,  and  in  some  aspects  different  from  it. 
Essentially  there  is  nothing  here  which  we  have 
not  already  dealt  with.  The  central  and  act- 
ing Person  is  again  "a  man."  The  search  for, 
and  the  discovery  of  treasure  dealt  with  in  the 
last  parable  is  also  present.  The  thought  of 
purchase  at  cost,  to  which  we  were  introduced 
in  the  last  parable,  is  also  in  this,  "He  went 
and  sold  all  that  he  had,  and  bought  it." 

It  is  upon  new  emphases  that  our  attention  is 
principally  centred  when  we  come  to  a  study  of 
this  parable.  The  man  here  is  a  merchant 
seeking  treasure  of  a  peculiar  kind,  *^goodly 
pearls."  In  this  quest  he  is  rewarded,  as  he 
finds  ''one  pearl  of  great  price/' 

155 


156    PARABLE    OF    THE    PEARL 

I  need  hardly  stay  to  say  that  I  do  not  accept 
the  interpretation  of  the  parable  which  regards 
the  pearl  of  great  price  as  the  Saviour,  and  the 
merchant  seeking  and  selling  all  to  obtain  the 
pearl,  as  the  sinner.  Such  an  interpretation,  as 
we  have  already  seen,  contradicts  the  whole 
scheme  of  the  teaching,  and  is  out  of  harmony 
with  all  the  facts  of  experience. 

Let  us  first  examine  these  new  emphases  of 
the  pearl  and  the  merchant,  and  then  attempt 
to  interpret  the  parable  according  to  their  sug- 
gestiveness. 

I  am  quite  aware  it  will  be  a  little  difficult 
to  separate  between  examination  and  interpre- 
tation. By  the  time  we  have  glanced  at  these 
special  matters,  the  pearl  and  the  merchant,  we 
shall  begin  to  see  the  only  interpretation  that 
such  examination  warrants.  Yet  let  us  attempt 
to  look  at  these  things  separately. 

While  the  actual  wording  of  the  parable  in- 
troduces us  first  to  the  man  who  is  a  merchant 
seeking  goodly  pearls,  I  propose  to  commence 
examination  by  taking  the  pearl  itself.  *'One 
pearl  of  great  price."    We  invariably  speak  of 


PAKABLE    OF    THE    PEARL    157 

this  parable  as  the  parable  of  the  pearl.  It  is 
that  which  arrests  our  attention,  and,  I  think, 
according  to  the  Master*s  intention. 

First  remember,  the  pearl  was  not  precious 
to  the  Hebrews.  In  the  Old  Testament  there 
are  some  wonderful  and  graphic  descriptions 
of  precious  stones,  '^stones  of  fire,"  as  they  are 
poetically  called,  but  the  pearl  is  not  men- 
tioned. It  had  no  place  on  the  breastplate  of 
the  high  priest.  When  Job  answered  the 
criticism  of  Bildad  the  Shuhite  in  parable,  he 
asks, 

But  where  shall  wisdom  be  found? 

Then  he  proceeds  to  enumerate  precious  things 
which  are  not  current  coin  in  the  market  place 
where  wisdom  is  to  be  sought,  things  with 
which  wisdom  cannot  be  bought. 

It  cannot  be  valued  with  the  gold  of  Ophir, 
With  the  precious  onyx,  or  the  sapphire. 

Gold  and  glass  cannot  equal  it : 
Neither  shall  the  exchange  thereof  be  jewels  of  fine 
gold. 

No  mention  shall  be  made  of  coral  or  of  crystal : 
Yea,  the  price  of  wisdom  is  above  rubies. 


158    PARABLE    OF    THE    PEARL 

You  will  notice  in  the  Authorized  Version  the 
word  ''pearl"  occurs  instead  of  ''crystal."  I 
think  there  can  be  no  doubt  that  the  revisers 
are  right  in  substituting  "crystal"  for  "pearl." 
The  root  of  the  Hebrew  word  suggests  some- 
thing frozen.  It  is  certainly  open  to  doubt  as 
to  what  is  really  meant,  but  there  can  be  very 
little  question  that  the  reference  is  not  to  pearl. 
Again,  instead  of  "Yea,  the  price  of  wisdom 
is  above  rubies,"  the  margin  reads,  "The  price 
of  wisdom  is  above  red  coral,"  or  "above 
pearls,"  a  very  questionable  reading.  Now  it 
is  a  striking  fact  that  only  in  these  cases  is  the 
word  pearl  mentioned  in  our  translations. 
Supposing,  however,  for  the  sake  of  argument, 
that  the  word  pearl  is  the  one  intended,  still 
remember  it  is  quoted  by  the  greatest  of  all  the 
men  of  the  East  as  not  to  be  mentioned  beside 
the  worth  of  wisdom.  Other  stones  are  men- 
tioned, even  though  dismissed,  but  he  says, 
"No  mention  shall  be  made  of  coral  or  of 
pearl,"  thus  signifying  its  contemptible  value. 
I  have  taken  time  to  show  this,  because  it  is 
an  interesting  fact  that  the  Hebrews  did  not 


PARABLE    OF    THE    PEARL     159 

count  the  pearl  in  the  least  precious.  One  can 
imagine,  therefore,  when  Jesus  used  the  figure 
how  surprised  a  look  would  come  upon  the 
faces  of  the  Hebrew  disciples  gathered  round 
Him.  He  had  spoken  in  previous  parables  of 
the  treasure  hidden  in  the  field,  and  they  under- 
stood it;  but  when  He  particularized,  and  used 
the  words  "pearl,"  "goodly  pearls,"  the  thought 
was  startling  from  the  Hebrew  standpoint. 
These  men  were,  of  course,  quite  conversant 
with  the  fact  that  the  pearl  was  held  as  a 
precious  stone  among  the  Gentiles.  The  study 
of  the  place  of  the  pearl  in  Gentile  usage  is 
most  interesting.  From  recent  investigations 
made  in  Egypt,  it  has  been  discovered  that  the 
decoration  of  ancient  kings  consisted  largely  of 
gold,  inset  with  jewels,  and  occasionally  with 
pearls.  When  we  come  to  Nineveh,  we  find 
that  the  pearl  was  in  greater  use.  An  increas- 
ing value  was  gradually  set  upon  it,  until  in  our 
day  it  is  accounted  as  the  most  precious  thing 
in  the  East.  It  is,  however,  of  Gentile  value. 
Thus  Christ  took  as  an  emblem  of  the  most 
precious  thing  that  which  was  most  valuable 


160    PARABLE    OF    THE    PEARL 

according  to  Gentile  estimate,  but  something 
which  was  outside  Hebrew  figures  of  speech, 
because  outside  Hebrew  conceptions  of  value. 
Bearing  that  in  mind,  let  us  go  a  step  fur- 
ther. There  are  certain  facts  about  the  pearl 
we  shall  do  well  to  notice.  First,  the  pearl  is 
the  direct  product  of  a  living  organism.  So 
far  as  I  am  aware  there  is  no  other  precious 
stone  of  which  that  is  true.  In  the  next  place, 
remember  that  the  pearl  is  the  result  of  injury 
done  to  the  life  that  produces  it. 

A  pearl  is  found  beneath  the  flowing  tide 

And  there  is  held  a  worse  than  worthless  thing, 

Spoiling  the  shell-built  home  where  it  doth  cling — 
Marring  the  life  near  which  it  must  abide. 

A  grain  of  sand  intruding,  something  that 
hinders  and  injures  and  harms,  is  the  root 
principle  of  the  pearl. 

But  that  is  not  the  pearl.  What,  then,  is  it? 
The  pearl  is  the  answer  of  the  injured  to  the 
injury  done.  The  pearl  is  the  injuring  ele- 
ment transmuted  by  processes  of  covering  until 
the  injurious  thing  is  turned  into  a  precious 
jewel.    We  all  know  the  story  of  how  in  the 


PARABLE    OP    THE    PEARL     161 

shell  of  the  oyster  the  pearl  is  formed.  The  ^ 
intrusion  of  a  grain  of  sand,  or  some  other 
foreign  substance ;  and  then  the  covering  of  it 
with  the  nacre,  or  mother-of-pearl,  layer  after 
layer,  exquisitely  wrought,  until  at  last  the 
thing  that  hurt  and  harmed  and  injured  has 
been  made  the  basis  upon  which  this  whole 
pearl,  a  rare  and  beautiful  jewel,  is  built  up. 
So  the  pearl  is  the  answer  of  the  injured  life 
to  that  which  injures  it. 

Go  one  step  further  in  considering  this. 
What  is  the  use  of  the  pearl  ?  It  is  to  us  wholly 
a  thing  of  beauty,  ornamental,  decorative;  but 
in  eastern  thought  it  is  emblematic  and  sym- 
bolic. From  the  artistic  standpoint  merely,  it 
is  regarded  carelessly,  but  in  those  eastern 
countries,  where  all  the  lights  and  shadows  of 
imagination  play  so  wonderful  a  part,  and  every 
rare  thing  is  symbolic,  the  pearl  is  an  orna- 
ment symbolizing  innocence  and  purity,  and  - 
prized  for  its  significance.  The  equivalent 
Greek  word,  margarites,  means  purity.  It 
probably  is  derived  from  an  old  Sanscrit  word 
also  meaning  purity,  and  this  fact  is  very  sug- 


162    PARABLE    OP    THE    PEARL 

gestive.  The  pearl  is  the  answer  of  an  injured 
life  to  the  thing  that  injures,  and  the  pearl  is 
the  symbol  of  innocence.  That  which  has 
worked  an  injury,  that  which  was  impure  and 
harmful,  has  been  so  dealt  with  by  the  very  life 
it  has  injured  that  it  is  transformed  into  a 
thing  of  glorious  beauty,  and  stands  for  ever 
as  a  flashing  illustration  of  essential  purity. 
But  the  pearl  is  more  than  the  symbol  or 
emblem  of  purity.  It  stood  for  the  triumph  of 
purity  over  impurity,  and  the  wearing  of  the 
pearl  was  not  in  its  deepest  significance  the 
wearing  of  that  which  stood  for  innocence 
only,  but  for  the  mighty  triumph  of  good  over 
evil. 

Turn  for  a  moment  to  the  other  special  em- 
phasis, that  of  the  merchant.  He  is  here  one 
who  is  seeking  goodly  pearls.  Yet  it  is  im- 
possible to  think  of  him  as  seeking  goodly 
pearls  merely  for  his  own  sake  or  adornment. 
He  is  a  merchant  seeking  goodly  pearls  for 
others,  and  the  easternness  of  the  picture  is 
apparent.  Put  yourself  back  into  the  eastern 
land,  and  watch  the  operation.    His  haste  to 


PARABLE    OF    THE    PEARL     163 

purchase,  his  determination  to  purchase  at  any 
cost,  is  the  eastern  colouring  of  the  picture,  and 
shows  that  he  has  at  length  discovered  a  jewel 
so  precious  as  to  be  worthy  for  the  adornment 
of  a  king  only;  for  in  those  eastern  lands  none 
but  kings  were  allowed  to  wear  the  finest,  and 
even  in  Persia  to-day  the  discovery  of  any 
costly  pearl  means  that  it  must  find  its  way  to 
the  Shah.  Here,  then,  is  a  merchant,  finding 
a  pearl  which  is  worthy  of  the  king's  accept- 
ance, and  which  may  be  for  the  adornment  of 
one  who  alone  has  the  right  to  wear  it  There 
are  other  pearls,  but  this  is  of  supreme  value, 
for  it  manifests  the  most  wonderful  victory, 
contains  within  itself  the  most  resplendent 
beauty,  and  is  therefore  the  most  perfect  sym- 
bol of  all  that  such  a  jewel  may  represent. 

Turning  from  this  examination  of  the  special 
emphases  of  the  pearl  and  the  merchant,  let  us 
in  the  light  of  these  things  think  for  a  moment 
of  what  this  parable  really  means.  At  this 
point  our  Lord  touches  a  mystery  far  deeper 
than  any  already  declared.  Here  He  speaks  in 
the  hearing  of  His  disciples  things  they  will 


164    PARABLE    OF    THE    PEARL 

only  come  to  understand  presently.  This  is 
what  Paul  speaks  of  as  the  definite  and  specific 
* 'mystery"  of  the  Church. 

In  this  parable  Jesus  shows  that  the  chief, 
though  not  the  final  value  of  this  Kingdom  age 
is  that  during  it  there  is  to  be  gathered  out  and 
presented  to  God  that  which  will  be  the  finest, 
fairest,  and  most  resplendent  jewel  that  will 
ever  flash  upon  His  bosom  in  all  the  ages  of 
eternity.  I  know  full  well  how  imperfect  these 
words  are,  and  yet  I  have  no  other  in  which  to 
clothe  the  thoughts.  Out  of  the  mystery  of  sin, 
and  out  of  the  mystery  of  evil,  and  out  of  the 
mystery  of  this  age  in  which  the  Kingdom 
values  seem  to  be  so  fluctuating  and  uncertain, 
there  is  yet  to  be  found  and  gathered  the  chief 
jewel  of  the  Father's  house,  the  most  glorious 
thing  for  His  possession,  which  shall  reveal  to 
the  ages  to  come,  and  to  unfallen  intelligences, 
the  grace  and  glory  of  God.  Among  the  treas- 
ures of  this  age  the  Church  of  Jesus  Christ  is 
supreme.  The  finding  of  the  Church,  in  this 
as  in  the  previous  parable,  is  not  accidental. 
Its  discovery  includes  discernment  of  it,  the 


PARABLE    OF    THE    PEARL     165 

indication  of  it  to  others,  and  the  obtaining 
of  it.  The  merchant  came,  not  seeking  pro- 
miscuously, but  bent  on  finding  this  very  pearl. 
Remember,  no  figure  can  ever  convey  all  the 
infinite  fact,  and  looking  at  it  in  its  infiniteness 
we  see  the  limitations  of  the  picture,  and  its 
inability  to  represent  the  whole  truth.  We  see 
f  Christ  discovering  this  precious  pearl,  bringing 
1  it  to  the  light  and  then — mark  very  carefully 
I  the  words  made  use  of  concerning  Him  here — 
"having  found  one  pearl  of  great  price,  He 
went  and  sold  all  that  He  had,  and  bought  it.'* 
May  I  change  that,  and  read,  very  literally, 
**Having  gone  away,  has  sold  all  that  He  had, 
and  bought  it."  This  does  not  for  a  moment 
mean  that  He  went  away  from  the  earth  to 
buy  it,  but  that  He  went  away  from  Heaven  to 
buy  it.  We  are  looking  at  the  Kingdom  from 
Heaven's  standpoint,  not  from  earth's.  Earth 
has  never  seen  the  precious  pearl,  has  no  con- 
ception of  it.  The  pearl  has  not  yet  found  it- 
self. The  Church  has  never  been  seen  by  the 
eye  of  mortal  man.  We  catch  glimpses  of  its 
glory,  but  the  Church  itself  has  never  been 


166    PARABLE    OP    THE    PEARL 

seen.  But  Christ  has  seen  the  Church  from 
eternity.  He  sees  it  through  all  the  processes 
of  its  working;  His  love  is  set  upon  what  it  is, 
and  what  it  will  be;  and  He  patiently  awaits 
the  accomplishment.  This  parable  records  the 
estimate  placed  upon  the  pearl  in  the  sight  of 
high  Heaven.  ''Having  gone  away"  from 
Heaven,  "He  sold  all  that  He  had,  and  bought 
it."  It  is  a  perfect  picture  of  One  who,  seeing 
a  pearl  of  great  price,  surrenders  place,  posses- 
sions, and  all,  that  He  may  purchase  that  pearl, 
and  take  it  back  with  Him  to  the  place  which 
He  left  for  its  purchasing. 

Turn  with  me  once  more  to  another  scrip- 
ture, I  Peter  ii.  4  and  7.  Here  again  while  the 
figure  of  the  pearl  is  not  to  be  found,  the  great 
facts  of  which  it  is  a  figure  are  set  forth  per- 
fectly. ''Unto  whom  coming,  a  living  Stone, 
rejected  indeed  of  men,  but  with  God  elect, 
precious."  Mark  that  word  "precious."  "The 
precious  Stone,"  this  is  spoken  of  the  Lord 
Himself.  "Ye  also,  as  living  stones,  are  built 
up  a  spiritual  house."  I  omit  the  rest,  because 
it  describes  the  issue,  and  I  go  to  verse  7,  which 


PARABLE    OF   THE    PEARL     167 

describes  the  process.  *Tor  you  therefore\ 
which  beheve  is  the  preciousness."  What 
preciousness  ?  His  preciousness.  The  Christ 
of  God  is  here  described  as  being  precious,  and 
you  may  read  all  values  into  that  word.  In 
character,  precious;  in  conduct,  precious;  in 
all  the  facts  of  His  great  personality,  precious. 
All  the  things  God  values  centre  in  Him,  Re- 
jected of  men,  but  precious  to  God  is  He. 

We  come  to  Him,  says  the  apostle,  and  are 
built  up.  *Tor  you  which  believe  is  the 
preciousness";  that  is  to  say,  all  that  is  precious 
in  Him,  is  communicated  to  us  who  believe. 
That  is  the  whole  story  of  the  development  of 
Christian  character.  To  the  last,  to  the  unend- 
ing ages  of  eternity,  I  shall  never  have  any- 
thing of  myself  of  which  to  boast  in  the  pres- 
ence of  God.  I  shall  always  boast  in  the  values 
that  have  been  made  mine  by  communication — 
the  values  of  the  Christ  character.  Anything 
excellent  in  us  is  the  Christ-life  realized  in 
us.  He  is  precious,  but  unto  you  that  "believe 
is  the  preciousness.'^  That  does  not  merely 
mean  that  you  hold  Him  precious  in  your  affec- 


168     PARABLE    OF    THE    PEARL 

tion;  but  that  the  precious  values  in  Him  are 
communicated  to  you,  and  we  who  come  to 
Him  worthless  and  base,  are  changed  into 
worth  and  preciousness  because  He  communi- 
cates to  us  His  own  infinite  value.  Such  is  the 
story  of  the  pearl.  It  is  first  of  all  base,  a 
worthless  thing,  harming  the  life  to  which  it 
comes.  And  here  is  a  most  remarkable  and 
exquisite  figure  of  what  happens  in  the  build- 
ing of  the  Church  of  Jesus  Christ.  We  ''were 
no  people" — I  still  quote  from  Peter,  and  he  is 
quoting  from  Hosea — we  "now  are  the  people 
of  God";  we  "had  not  obtained  mercy,"  we 
"now  have  obtained  mercy."  How  has  the 
change  been  wrought?  We  came  to  Him 
worthless,  and  it  was  in  our  approach  to  Him 
that  He  was  wounded  and  harmed,  injured  and 
bruised.  Yet  the  answer  of  the  injured  One  to 
that  which  harmed,  was  that  He  made  over  to 
us  in  the  mystery  of  His  harming,  all  the 
virtues  and  glories  of  His  own  character.  As 
the  pearl  is  the  outcome  of  a  hurtful  thing 
transformed  into  beauty  and  innocence  by  the 
communication   of   the    life   it    hurt,    so    the 


PARABLE    OF    THE    PEARL     169 

Church  of  Jesus  Christ  in  its  entirety  consists 
of  such  as  wounded  Him,  and  yet  from  that 
very  wounding,  and  because  of  it,  there  has 
been  and  is  being  communicated  to  them  His 
virtue,  His  grace,  His  glory.  His  beauty.  He 
Who  for  the  moment  in  the  parable  is  the  mer- 
chant, is  infinitely  more  than  the  merchant. 
He  is  not  only  the  One  who  sees  the  possibility 
of  the  precious  Jewel,  but  He  Who  transmutes 
the  unsightly  thing  into  the  thing  of  beauty,  the 
impure  thing  into  the  thing  of  innocence;  the 
One  Who  has  lifted  out  of  the  troubled  sea  of 
human  sorrow  a  people  that  shall  flash  in  glory 
for  ever  upon  the  bosom  of  God,  the  chief 
medium  through  which  He  shall  manifest  His 
grace  and  His  glory  in  all  the  ages  to  come. 

This  is  the  subject  of  the  Ephesian  epistle. 
The  parable  is  silent  about  that  final  issue,  be- 
cause it  is  only  dealing  with  this  age,  but  we 
may  follow  the  pearl  in  imagination  until  it 
flashes  upon  the  bosom  of  some  potentate.  If 
we  reverently  inquire  what  becomes  of  the 
pearl  that  Jesus  finds,  we  may  turn  to  that 
epistle  and  there  see  its  destination.    Paul  first 


170    PARABLE    OF    THE    PEARL 

of  all  prays  that  these  Christians  may  know  "the 
riches  of  the  glory  of  His  inheritance  in  the 
saints,"  a  phrase  rich  and  gracious  and  glori- 
ous in  meaning.  Notice  carefully  Paul  did 
not  pray  that  they  might  know  what  was  the 
greatness  of  their  inheritance  in  God,  but  what 
was  the  greatness  of  God's  inheritance  in  them. 
The  thought  is  not  that  the  saints  are  made 
rich  in  God,  but  that  God  is  enriched  in  the 
saints,  that  in  them  He  gains  something  for 
His  possession.  I  dare  not  say  that  if  it  were 
not  the  teaching  of  the  whole  epistle,  and  I 
dare  hardly  say  it  if  it  were  but  the  suggestion 
of  a  verse.  But  mark  the  argument  of  the 
great  Ephesian  epistle,  and  see  to  what  end  it 
works  out.  In  it  Paul  distinctly  teaches  us  in 
what  sense  God  gains  in  the  Church.  He  tells 
us  that  the  Church  is  to  be  the  medium  through 
which  His  grace.  His  goodness.  His  love  are  to 
be  made  known  to  the  ages  to  come.  The 
Church  is  to  be  that  through  which  the  unborn 
ages  will  know  the  grace  of  God  and  the  love 
of  God.  A  little  further  on  in  the  same  epistle, 
he  tells  us  that  the  Church  is  to  be  the  instru- 


PARABLE    OF    THE    PEARL     171 

ment  through  which  angels,  principalities, 
powers,  and  the  unfallen  intelligences  of  other 
worlds,  will  learn  the  wisdom  of  God.  This 
Church,  redeemed,  purchased,  purified,  glori- 
fied, is  for  ever  more  to  be  the  instrument 
through  which  the  grace  of  God  and  the  wis- 
dom of  God  will  be  made  known  to  ages  and  to 
principalities  and  to  powers,  until  we  get  to  the 
close  of  the  letter,  and  Paul  with  one  flash  of 
light  says — and  reading,  think  of  the  pearl  of 
the  parable — "Christ  also  loved  the  Church, 
and  gave  Himself  up  for  it;  that  He  might 
sanctify  it,  having  cleansed  it  by  the  washing  of 
water  with  the  Word,  that  He  might  present 
the  Church  to  Himself  a  glorious  Church,  not 
having  spot  or  wrinkle,  or  any  such  thing ;  but 
that  it  should  be  holy  and  without  blemish/* 

The  pearl  of  great  price  is  found  in  the  midst 
of  human  wreckage,  is  gathered  out  of  it,  ex- 
alted, and  made  the  medium  through  which  in 
coming  ages  the  infinite  truth  of  God's  grace 
and  wisdom  shall  be  revealed.  Thus  does  God 
gain  in  the  Church.  He  gains  nothing  of  es- 
sential glory,  but  He  gains  a  medium  through 


\ 


172     PARABLE    OF    THE    PEARL 

which  He  may  manifest  that  glory.  He  gains 
nothing  of  essential  grace,  but  He  gains  a  peo- 
ple, through  whom  His  grace  shall  be  revealed 
as  could  be  in  no  other  way.  No  angel  can 
sing  the  story  of  God's  grace  as  we  whom  His 
grace  has  transformed.  Some  of  you  remem- 
ber that  wonderful  poem  by  Mrs.  Barrett 
Browning,  'The  Seraphim."  Imagination  call 
it  if  you  will,  but  it  is  high  and  holy  imagina- 
tion. She  describes  seraphim  watching  the 
processes  of  the  Master's  work  on  earth, 
watching  with  wonder  as  their  Lord  and  King 
stoops  to  its  dark  places  and  suffers  along  its 
ways,  until  the  meaning  of  His  work  breaking 
upon  the  intelligence  of  the  angel-watchers,  one 
turns  to  the  other  and  says — 

Hereafter  shall  the  blood-bought  captives  raise 
The  passion-song  of  blood. 

And  the  other  answering  says — 

And  we  extend 
Our  holy  vacant  hands  towards  the  throne, 
Crying,  "We  have  no  music." 

And  by  comparison  it  is  true.  When  the  ran- 
somed reach  the  land  of  light  there  will  be 


PARABLE    OF    THE    PEARL     173 

some  things  of  which  they  cannot  sing  more 
perfectly  than  the  angels ;  but  they  will  be  able 
to  sing  of  His  love  as  angel  never  shall.  No 
angel  pan  put  into  these  words  so  much  as  I 
can  put  into  them,  "He  loved  me  and  gave 
Himself  up  for  me/'  And  when  all  earth's 
anthems  have  ceased,  that  will  be  the  highest 
music  of  the  eternities. 

So  in  this  age  He  is  building  this  Church* 
He  saw  the  pearl  when  yet  but  a  possibility, 
injurious,  useless,  far  off  in  the  deep,  dense 
darkness.  He  gathered  the  offending  thing 
into  His  own  life,  and  it  wounded  Him, 
harmed  Him,  and  slew  Him,  but, 

He  death  by  dying  slew, 
He  hell  in  hell  laid  low, 

and  as  He  transmutes  the  evil  thing  that 
harmed  Him  by  the  impartation  of  His  own 
blameless  character  and  holy  life,  He  is  build- 
ing a  glorious  body  for  Himself,  to  which  He 
ever  shall  be  the  Head,  and  which  shall,  in 
union  with  Himself,  be  God's  chief  adornment 
in  the  ages  yet  to  come. 


174    PARABLE    OF    THE    PEARL 

He  found  the  pearl  of  greatest  price, 
My  heart  doth  sing  for  joy; 

And  sing  I  must,  for  I  am  His, 
And  He  is  mine  for  aye. 


He  has  drawn  and  lifted  me  who  harmed  Him, 
and  bestowed  upon  me  His  nature,  His  char- 
acter, and  His  beauty,  and  presently  He  will 
present  me,  oh,  matchless  wonder,  even  me, 
''faultless  before  .  .  .  glory!"  Then,  O 
blessed  be  God,  He  will  send  me  forth  to  other 
worlds,  to  other  ages,  to  other  beings,  to 
preach  His  Cross,  that  they  too  may  know  the 
glory  of  His  grace. 

My  brethren,  it  is  our  business  to  look  for 
the  Kingdom  here,  to  pray  for  it,  to  toil  for  it, 
to  hope  for  it.  Let  us  not  be  made  by  such 
effort  forgetful  of  the  truth  about  the  Church. 
I  believe  that  the  Kingdom  is  infinitely  greater 
than  the  Church,  that  the  Church  will  not  ex- 
haust God's  grace,  or  God's  goodness;  that 
there  will  be  untold  myriads  led  into  the  place 
of  vision  who  are  not  members  of  this  Church, 
people  who  went  before  this  age,  and  those 
who  follow  after,  and  perchance  some  in  this 


PARABLE    OF    THE    PEARL     175 

age.  But  this  Church  of  the  living  God,  the 
chosen  and  elect  company  who  will  become  in 
their  union  with  Christ  the  medium  of  mani- 
festation, is  the  pearl  the  Merchant  saw;  and 
to  give  which  to  God  He  poured  out  all  that 
He  had.  Our  hearts  may  rest  assured  that  in 
all  the  apparent  failure  of  the  Kingdom  ideal 
in  the  age — not  actual  failure,  for  everything 
moves  toward  another  dispensation — the  chief 
value,  the  chief  glory,  and  the  chief  business, 
from  Heaven's  standpoint,  is  the  gathering  out 
of  the  Church,  and  its  preparation  for  a  high 
and  holy  vocation  in  the  ages  yet  to  come. 


I 


THE  PARABLE  OF  THE  NET 


"Again,  the  Kingdom  of  Heaven  is  like  unto  a  net, 
that  was  cast  into  the  sea,  and  gathered  of  every  kind: 
which,  when  it  was  tilled,  they  drew  up  on  the  beach; 
and  they  sat  down,  and  gathered  the  good  into  vessels, 
but  the  bad  they  cast  away.  So  shall  it  be  in  the  end 
of  the  world;  the  angels  shall  come  forth,  and  sever 
the  wicked  from  among  the  righteous,  and  shall  cast 
them  into  the  furnace  of  fire:  there  shall  be  the  weeping 
and  gnashing  of  teeth."— Mattkew  xiii.  47-50. 


IX 

THE  PARABLE  OF  THE  NET 

With  this  parable  the  series  reveahng  the 
process  and  condition  of  the  Kingdom  prin- 
ciple in  the  present  age  comes  to  conclu- 
sion. 

In  this  study  we  are  greatly  aided  by  our 
Lord's  partial  interpretation.  The  picture  is 
that  of  a  great  net  cast  out  into  the  sea.  This 
is  not  Ezekiel's  picture  of  fishermen  standing 
along  the  waters  from  En-gedi  to  En-eglaim, 
drawing  out  fish  individually.  This  is  not  a 
picture  of  the  work  that  the  apostles  were  to 
do  which  Jesus  described  when  He  said,  "I  will 
make  you  fishers  of  men.''  This  is  quite  a  dif- 
ferent method  of  fishing,  one  with  which  all 
are  familiar  who  have  been  to  fishing  places 
around  our  own  coasts.  A  great  net  is  taken 
out,  let  down  into  the  sea,  and  left  until  after 
179 


180       PAEABLE    OF    THE    NET 

a  while  those  who  placed  it  come  back  and 
haul  it  in,  including  within  its  meshes  all 
kinds  of  fish.  When  filled  it  is  drawn  up 
upon  the  beach^  and  a  process  of  selection 
and  separation  goes  forward.  The  good 
are  gathered  into  vessels.  The  bad  are  cast 
away. 

Now  our  Lord  does  not  explain  all  the  parts 
of  this  parable.  ''So"  indicates  the  beginning 
of  His  interpretation.  ''So  shall  it  be  in  the 
end  of  the  age."  The  Lord's  interpretation 
has  to  do  with  the  final  fact  depicted  in  the 
parable.  The  first  is  the  casting  out  of  the  net. 
The  second  gives  a  glimpse  of  the  intervening 
hours  when  the  sea  plays  backwards  and  for- 
wards through  the  net,  and  fishes  of  all  kinds 
are  enclosed.  The  last  draws  attention  to  the 
drawing  in  of  the  net  at  the  moment  of  its  ful- 
ness by  skilful  hands.  All  these  suggestive 
facts  are  in  the  parable.  But  Jesus  does  not 
attempt  any  explanation  concerning  the  net  or 
the  sea  or  the  fishes.  His  explanation  has  to 
do  with  the  final  movement,  the  separation,  the 
selection.     "So  shall  it  be  in  the  end  of  the 


PARABLE    OP    THE    NET       181 

age/'  the  consummation  of  the  age:  "the 
angels  shall  come  forth,  and  sever  the  wicked 
from  among  the  righteous,  and  shall  cast  them 
into  the  furnace  of  fire :  there  shall  be  the  weep- 
ing and  gnashing  of  teeth." 

We  grasp  at  once,  therefore,  the  true  em- 
phasis of  this  parable.  It  is  intended  above  all 
to  reveal  the  method  of  the  completion  of  the 
age.  My  own  conviction  is  that  we  are  in 
danger  of  fanciful  interpretation  if  we  attempt 
in  any  detail  to  explain  the  other  parts  of  the 
parable.  Let  us  take  that  which  our  Lord  ex- 
plains, and  only  explain  the  former  as  His 
explanation  of  the  final  movement  may  make 
possible.  The  main  value  of  the  parable, 
broadly  stated,  lies  in  the  fact  of  the  separation 
which  is  to  follow  upon  the  drawing  in  of  the 
net.  This  separation  is  to  take  place  at  the  end 
of  the  age,  and  understanding  that,  we  are 
saved  from  wrong  conceptions,  both  as  to  the 
net  and  the  fishermen,  and  such  fish  as  are  en- 
closed within  the  net. 

Very  popularly  this  parable  is  taken  to  illus- 
trate the  work  of  evangelism,  but  though  that 


182       PARABLE    OF    THE    NET 

work  is  spoken  of  by  our  Lord  under  the  sym- 
bol of  fishing,  it  has  no  place  in  the  teaching 
here. 

Let  us  say  at  once  that  in  some  senses  this 
parable  is  of  no  vital  moment  to  us.  In  some 
senses  it  does  not  help  us  in  our  work;  it  is  just 
a  glimpse,  a  flash,  of  events  transpiring  at  the 
end  of  the  age.  In  another  sense  it  is  of  great 
and  immediate  value,  as  I  shall  hope  to  show  in 
conclusion.  Here  we  are  not  looking  first  at 
the  processes  of  the  moment,  but  at  the  final 
process  with  its  great  meaning.  The  Church  is 
not  here  at  all.  The  human  race  is  only  par- 
tially included.  The  parable  has  to  do  with  a 
section  only,  that  is,  with  such  represented  by 
the  number  enclosed  within  the  net.  Not  all 
the  fish  in  the  sea  are  enclosed  within  the  net. 
Not  all  the  sea  can  be  traversed,  or  is  traversed 
by  one  net  in  this  operation  of  gathering.  It 
is  a  sectional  picture.  A  net  is  cast  into  the 
sea,  and  if  we  with  certain  expositors  say  that 
the  sea  is  for  ever  more  the  symbol  of  the  great 
Gentile  multitudes — I  am  not  sure  that  is  so, 
but  if  we  say  so — remember  this  is  not  the  pic- 


PARABLE    OF    THE    NET       183 

ture  of  the  enclosing  of  all  of  them,  either  for 
reception  or  rejection. 

Let  us  begin  by  looking  at  the  point  where 
our  Lord  placed  His  emphasis.  The  process 
that  is  to  bring  to  an  end  the  age  in  which  we 
live  and  work  is  a  single  process.  It  is  that 
of  severing  the  bad  from  among  the  good,  of 
severing  "the  wicked  from  among  the  right- 
eous." The  picture  our  Lord  used  was  alto- 
gether familiar,  but  He  chose  out  of  the  picture 
a  single  fact,  and  let  all  the  rest  go.  He 
pointed  His  disciples,  who  for  the  most  part 
were  fishermen,  to  what  they  had  done  many 
a  night,  flung  the  nets  out,  and  left  them;  and 
then  hauled  them  in,  and  sitting  down  on  the 
beach  rejected  the  bad  and  conserved  the  good. 
But  only  on  one  incident  in  the  familiar  pic- 
ture does  He  lay  any  emphasis.  Ignoring  the 
conservation  of  the  good,  and  all  other  proc- 
esses, our  Lord  selects  this  one  fact,  the  sever- 
ance of  the  bad.  "So  shall  it  be  in  the  end  of 
the  age."  This  is  not  the  picture  of  our  Lord's 
coming,  and  taking  out  His  Church,  that  elect, 
select  company,  chosen,  fore-ordained,  elected 


184       PARABLE    OF    THE    NET 

by  God.  There  are  a  great  many  people  who 
will  not  be  in  that  elect  company  who  will  yet 
be  in  Heaven,  and  included  in  the  economy  of 
God;  for  election  in  Scripture  is  to  the  Church, 
and  never  to  salvation.  But  the  subject  is 
not  touched  upon  here.  This  is  a  picture 
of  angels  coming  into  the  midst  of  human 
affairs  and  drawing  out  the  bad.  Let  us 
put  the  whole  emphasis  upon  that  for  a  mo- 
ment, because  an  understanding  of  it  will, 
I  think,  flash  back  for  us  light  upon  all  the 
rest. 

What  is  this  severance  of  the  wicked  for? 
That  they  may  be  destroyed,  that  they  may  be 
cast  to  the  fire;  and  our  Lord's  words  here  are 
full  of  significance.  He  says,  There,  on  that 
occasion,  when  angels  gather  out  evil  men  and 
cast  them  to  destruction,  "there  shall  be  the 
weeping  and  gnashing  of  teeth."  And  when 
Christ  uses  such  startling  words,  we  may  well 
ponder  solemnly,  and  read  into  them  nothing 
that  is  not  there;  and  read  out  of  them  noth- 
ing that  is  evidently  in  them.  "Weeping," 
lamentation;  "gnashing  of  teeth,"  the  grinding 


PARABLE    OF    THE    NET        185 

of  the  teeth,  either  in  pain  or  rage,  or  in  all 
probability,  both. 

What,  then,  can  be  the  meaning  of  this  net, 
and  this  gathering  of  it  up,  and  this  action  of 
the  angels  regarding  it?  ''Again,  the  King- 
dom of  Heaven  is  like  unto  a  net,"  and  as  I 
have  said  before,  the  whole  picture  is  needed 
to  show  the  process  of  the  Kingdom  in  this 
age.  Notice  where  the  emphasis  begins,  ''So 
shall  it  be."  This  net  enclosing  within  itself  a 
certain  number  is  undoubtedly  that  of  the 
Kingdom  influence  of  which  we  have  spoken, 
which  is  being  exercised  in  the  world  through 
the  presence  in  the  world  of  Christ  and  His 
Church;  and  the  net  is  let  down  into  the  sea 
of  human  life,  and  wherever  it  spreads, 
wherever  the  influence  of  the  Church  is  ex- 
erted, this  final  work  of  the  gathering  out  the 
bad  will  proceed.  And  I  have  failed  utterly 
if  I  have  not  impressed  upon  the  hearts  of 
those  who  follow  me  the  double  value  of 
the  age  in  the  economy  of  God.  There  is 
first  the  gathering  out  of  the  Church;  and  sec- 
ondly, the  creation  of  influence  that  prepares 


186       PARABLE    OF    THE    NET 

for  final  and  future  dispensations.  That  great 
mystery  of  the  Kingdom  as  a  consciousness,  a 
sub-consciousness,  a  semi-consciousness  in  hu- 
man thinking  has  come  wherever  the  Church 
has  come,  wherever  the  missionary  has  come, 
wherever  the  Gospel  has  come.  Not  perfectly 
I  know,  but  who  shall  make  the  discrimina- 
tion ?  I  believe  there  are  people  in  this  city  of 
London  who  have  never  come  under  the  influ- 
ence of  the  Kingdom,  and  there  are  certain 
vast  multitudes  of  people  in  Africa,  India, 
China,  who  have  never  come  under  the  influ- 
ence of  that  Kingdom.  But  wherever  it  has 
come,  wherever  the  Gospel  has  been  preached 
as  a  witness,  there  men  have  been  brought  con- 
sciously face  to  face  with  the  fact  of  the  Divine 
government,  and  it  is  of  such  that  the  number 
enclosed  by  the  net  is  made  up.  At  the  close 
of  the  dispensation  or  age,  when  the  net 
is  gathered  in,  and,  as  I  personally  think,  sub- 
sequently to  the  taking  out  of  the  Church  at 
the  Lord's  second  advent,  will  begin  the  new 
process,  which  will  be  initiated  by  the  gathering 
together  for  judgment  of  all  those  nations  that 


PARABLE    OF   THE    NET       187 

have  been  brought  within  the  reach  of  King- 
dom influence.  Later  on  in  His  ministry  Christ 
dealt  more  specifically  with  the  judgment  of 
nations.  One  glance  ahead  will  suffice  to  show 
what  I  mean.  The  picture  of  the  sheep  and 
the  goats  has  nothing  whatever  to  do  with  in- 
dividual life.  It  is  a  picture  of  national  judg- 
ment, based  upon  national  relationship  to  the 
Christ. 

When  the  fulness  of  time  has  come  and  the 
elect  Church  of  God  is  completed  and  removed, 
God  will  not  abandon  the  world,  but  will  begin 
a  new  movement  in  the  world's  history.  That 
new  movement  will  be  initiated  by  this  gath- 
ering in  of  the  net,  and  through  the  agency  of 
angels,  by  the  sifting  of  those  whole  peoples 
and  regions  in  which  the  influence  of  the  King- 
dom has  been  felt. 

I  can  well  understand  that  some  one  may 
ask,  Do  you  think  that  is  literal,  actual,  and 
positive?  My  answer  is,  Certainly.  There 
will  come  a  moment  when  there  will  be,  accord- 
ing to  the  teaching  of  Scripture,  and  this 
specific  word  of  Jesus,  the  return  to  direct  in- 


188       PARABLE    OP    THE    NET 

tervention  in  human  affairs  of  angels.  To-day 
their  ministrations  are  unseen.  They  are  still 
all  ministering  spirits;  but  they  minister  as 
spirits,  because  they  are  ministering  specifically 
to  the  men  of  faith  in  the  mystery  of  this  little 
while.  But  as  they  have  been  visible  in  olden 
days — and  if  you  deny  the  truth  of  it,  you  have 
to  deny  your  Bible — so  will  they  be  visible 
again.  And  I  believe  that  the  new  era  in  the 
world's  history  will  be  ushered  in  first  of  all 
by  this  strange  and  marvellous  and  overwhelm- 
ing angel  visitation,  angel  discrimination,  and 
angel  separation.  Angel  discrimination  means 
Heaven's  standards  set  up  among  the  affairs  of 
men.  Angel  separation  means  Heaven's  might 
enforcing  Heaven's  standards.  One  of  the 
most  interesting  subjects  in  art  is  the  history 
of  angel  painting.  I  am  not  proposing  to  dis- 
cuss it  at  length.  I  am  inclined  to  say  that  I 
think  the  great  artists,  the  great  masters  as  we 
still  call  them,  who  in  my  own  opinion  so  sadly 
and  absolutely  failed  to  represent  Christianity, 
were  far  more  successful  in  depicting  the  truth 
concerning  angels.    Take  one  of  the  latest,  that 


PARABLE    OP    THE    NET       189 

great  picture  "Despised  and  Rejected  of  Men," 
by  Sigismund  Goetz.  Everybody  has  seen  it. 
Everybody  has  gazed  upon  the  awful  figure  of 
the  Christ  and  the  crowding  figures  of  the  men 
and  women  about  Him,  but  how  many  have 
noticed  that  majestic  angel  form  in  the  back- 
ground? To  me  that  is  the  finest  thing  in  all 
the  picture.  If  this  be  true,  that  representa- 
tion of  towering  majesty,  that  conception  of 
angelic  being  such  as  is  according  to  Scripture 
— ^and  here  you  must  not  charge  me  with 
imagination — "a  flame  of  fire,"  flashing  in 
beauty  and  in  glory — if  that  be  true,  then  think 
of  what  it  will  mean  for  the  world  when  angels 
come  to  sever  the  wicked  from  among  the 
good.  Do  not  be  afraid  of  materializing 
spiritual  things.  In  our  great  fear  of  spiritual- 
izing material  things,  do  not  let  us  run  to  the 
other  extreme.  Think  what  it  would  mean  if 
angels  could  come  upon  our  city  to-day  to  lay 
an  arrest  upon  all  evil-doers,  and  extract  them 
from  the  midst  of  the  people.  That  is  what 
will  happen,  but  it  is  only  a  preliminary  process, 
the  first  skirmish  of  the  hosts  of  God,  when  He 


190       PARABLE    OF    THE    NET 

comes  to  set  up  His  Kingdom.  This  is  the  day 
of  long-suffering  patience.  This  is  the  day 
when  the  net  Hes  out  in  the  sea,  and  the  waves 
lap  it  and  rock  it,  and  men  wonder  what  is 
happening.  This  is  the  day  when  the  great 
Merchant  is  gathering  out  the  pearl,  and  pre- 
paring it  for  the  mystery  of  unborn  ages. 
When  presently  the  day  is  ended,  and  its  pur- 
pose in  the  economy  of  God  accomplished,  then 
this  new  age  begins  for  the  world  itself,  and 
angels,  according  to  Jesus,  are  to  initiate  it  by 
gathering  out  the  wicked  from  among  the  good. 
There  the  parable  leaves  us.  In  some  senses 
we  can  go  no  further.  And  yet  while  our  para- 
ble does  not  declare  to  us  what  the  final  issue 
will  be,  we  may  for  purposes  of  understanding 
it,  in  all  fairness  refer  to  the  King's  previous 
and  fuller  statement  which  at  the  time  we  did 
not  dwell  upon  at  any  great  length.  So  that 
returning  to  the  parable  of  the  darnel  and  the 
wheat,  we  shall  find  something  that  helps  us  in 
interpretation  of  the  present  one.  "The  Son 
of  Man  shall  send  forth  His  angels,  and  they 
shall  gather  out  of  His  Kingdom  all  things  that 


PARABLE    OF    THE    NET        191 

cause  stumbling,  and  them  that  do  iniquity,  and 
shall  cast  them  into  the  furnace  of  fire :  there 
shall  be  the  weeping  and  gnashing  of  teeth." 
The  parable  we  are  looking  at  goes  no  step  be- 
yond that.  But  this  parable  of  the  darnel  does. 
*'Then  shall  the  righteous  shine  forth  as  the 
sun  in  the  Kingdom  of  their  Father,"  and  here 
again  I  believe  there  is  no  reference  merely  to 
the  Church,  the  process  of  whose  selection  has 
already  been  completed,  but  to  that  multitude 
beyond  the  Church  whom  we  have  been  con- 
sidering. 

What,  then,  is  the  meaning  of  the  angel 
ministry  which  will  follow  the  age  in  which  He 
gathers  the  Church  to  Himself?  First  the 
cleansing  of  the  Kingdom  from  things  that 
cause  stumbling,  and  from  them  that  do  in- 
iquity. But  what  beyond  it?  'The  righteous 
shall  shine  forth  as  the  sun  in  the  Kingdom  of 
their  Father."  That  is  to  say,  this  angel- 
cleansing  of  the  Kingdom  will  mean  the  oppor- 
tunity of  goodness,  and  the  opportunity  of  the 
nations  which  have  never  been  enclosed  within 
the  net. 


192       PAKABLE    OF    THE    NET 

May  I  in  conclusion  depart  from  all  these 
figures  of  speech,  and  attempt  to  state  with 
great  brevity  what  I  think  they  indicate  ?  This 
age  will  close  in  the  first  place  with  the  gather- 
ing out  from  it  of  the  Church  of  Jesus  Christ 
to  Himself.  If  we  have  made  one  mistake 
more  terrible  than  another  in  our  interpreta- 
tion of  Scripture  teaching  concerning  the  future 
it  has  been  that  of  imagining  that  when  the 
Church  is  taken  away  God  abandons  the  world. 
He  does  nothing  of  the  kind.  Beyond  the 
gathering  out  of  the  Church,  all  the  great 
processes  foreseen  by  Hebrew  prophets  will  be 
fulfilled.  Half  the  reason  why  scholars  to-day 
are  indulging  in  criticism  of  the  Hebrew 
prophets  is  that  they  have  overlooked  this 
underlying  fact,  that  the  vast  bulk  of  Hebrew 
prophecy  is  yet  unfulfilled,  but  is  awaiting  its 
appointed  time  of  fulfilment.  Or  if  they  do 
see  these  things  are  unfulfilled  they  say.  These 
things  never  came  to  pass,  therefore  these 
things  are  not  to  be  depended  upon.  As  a 
matter  of  fact  the  Hebrew  prophecies  are  not 
yet  fulfilled,  but  they  are  going  to  be  fulfilled; 


PARABLE    OP    THE    NET        193 

and  the  vast  and  splendid  visions  of  a  coming 
King,  and  a  coming  glory,  which  th«  Hebrew 
prophets  saw,  the  world  has  not  yet  seen;  but 
the  world  will  see  it,  and  the  Kingdom  is  yet 
to  be  set  up  here  on  earth. 

Another  of  our  greatest  perils  is  that  of  con- 
fusing for  ever  more  between  the  Church  and 
God's  Kingdom.  The  Church  is  one  entity  in 
the  great  and  universal  ages  and  universe,  hav- 
ing specific  work  which  we  have  considered  on 
a  previous  occasion.  But  further,  beyond  the 
Church  will  be  the  multitude  which  no  man  can 
number,  and  far  beyond  the  Church  will  stretch 
the  vast  domain  of  Divine  beneficence  and  rule, 
and  the  world  itself  is  not  to  be  abandoned,  ac- 
cording to  Scripture  teaching,  when  the  Church 
is  taken  out  from  it.  But  when  the  Church  is 
removed  a  new  order  will  obtain,  to  be  initiated 
by  a  process  of  judgment,  in  which  angels  will 
gather  out  those  nations  that  have  had  their 
Gospel  opportunity,  and  will  gather  out  all  evil 
things  and  banish  them,  and  righteousness  shall 
have  a  new  opportunity. 

I  do  not  know  when  that  hour  will  be.    I 


104        PARABLE    OP    THE    NET 

have  no  idea  when  the  King  is  coming.  It 
may  be  immediately.  It  may  not  be  for  a  thou- 
sand years.  I  do  not  know,  and  I  do  not  at- 
tempt to  discover.  But  should  He  come  soon, 
I  do  not  think  any  of  His  angels  would  go  into 
the  interior  of  China.  I  do  not  think  they  would 
go  into  the  heart  of  Africa.  I  think  these 
angels  would  be  in  the  great  centres,  all  about 
the  parts  where  white  men  congregate.  They 
would  gather  into  the  embrace  of  their  work  of 
separation  all  the  places  and  the  peoples  that 
have  been  brought  into  the  net  of  the  Kingdom 
influence,  and  the  rest  would  wait.  I  am  per- 
fectly sure  that  the  angels  will  be  busy  in  Lon- 
don. Think  of  it,  my  masters,  and  in  God's 
name  I  tell  you  it  does  not  fill  my  heart  with 
terror,  but  with  delight.  I  sigh  for  the  coming 
of  the  angels.  I  feel  increasingly  that  the  gov- 
ernment of  men  is  a  disastrous  failure,  and 
will  be  to  the  end.  Presently  when  the  Church 
is  complete,  and  lifted  out,  angels  will  take 
this  business  in  hand,  and  there  will  be  no 
seducer  clever  enough  to  dodge  an  angel,  and 
there  will  be  no  scamp  master  enough  of  traffic 


PARABLE    OP    THE    NET        195 

to  escape  the  grip  of  an  angel  hand.  Blessed 
be  God  for  judgment,  stern  judgment.  I  am 
not  sure  that  the  world  does  not  need  judgment 
more  than  mercy.  He  "shall  send  forth  His 
angels,  and  they  shall  gather  out  of  His  King- 
dom all  things  that  cause  stumbling,  and  them 
that  do  iniquity."  Buildings  will  crash  at  their 
touch,  and  unholy  places  will  be  demolished  at 
their  bidding;  and  yet  the  angels  are  only  the 
King's  messengers.  Think  of  the  King  Him- 
self behind  it  all,  coming  to  establish  His 
Kingdom.  This  is  an  unbelieving  age,  a  very 
clever,  busy  one,  but  a  very  small  age  in  its 
thinking.  I  love  to  get  back  from  magazine 
articles  and  philosophies  to  my  Bible,  and  I 
love  to  hear  Him  say,  "The  Son  of  Man  shall 
send  forth  His  angels,  and  they  shall  gather  out 
of  His  Kingdom  all  things  that  cause  stum- 
bling," everything  that  offends.  That  is  my 
hope  to-day.  Oh,  my  hope  is  not  in  any  Mis- 
sionary Society  in  existence,  nor  in  any  Evan- 
gelistic Society  in  existence.  I  pray  that  they 
may  do  their  duty,  preach  the  evangel,  and 
hasten  the  coming  day;  but  my  hope  is  in  these 


196       PARABLE    OF    THE    NET 

flaming  seraphs.  My  heart  cries  out  for  their 
coming.  You  may  say  it  is  imaginative.  Re- 
member it  is  Jesus'  imagination,  and  I  am  quite 
wilHng  to  spend  the  time  imagining  with  Jesus. 
*'He  shall  send  forth  His  angels." 

And  then  what?  The  things  that  remain 
shall  be  the  basis  of  the  new  Kingdom,  and  the 
rule  of  the  iron  rod  shall  be  established;  and 
then  Africa  will  get  its  great  chance,  and  China 
too.  When  the  angel  guards  China  against 
any  man's  daring  to  suggest  opium,  then  is  the 
chance  for  China.  That  is  only  one  passing 
illustration,  but  you  catch  the  thought 
of  it. 

This  parable  is  of  the  nature  of  a  look  ahead. 
In  some  senses  we  to-day  have  little  to  do  with 
it,  but  in  other  senses  it  is  a  gracious  source  of 
strength,  as  it  assures  us  of  a  sure  process  of 
judgment,  and  so  gives  us  hope  where  other- 
wise there  would  be  none.  Take  this  parable, 
and  study  it  in  the  light  of  all  the  rest.  It  will 
give  you,  oppressed  with  all  the  failure  of  the 
hour,  to  see  that  if  man  fails  God  is  not  failing. 
Beyond  this  dispensation,  God  has  others ;  and 


PARABLE    OF    THE    NET        197 

judgment,  the  most  beautiful  thing  in  God's 
universe,  will  yet  have  its  opportunity,  and  the 
world,  the  scarred,  seamed,  sorrow-stricken 
earth,  will  be  healed  by  a  mercy  that  operates 
in  judgment,  by  justice  that  operates  in  mercy. 


THE  PARABLE  OF  THE 
HOUSEHOLDER 


"Have  ye  understood  all  these  thingsf  They  say  unto 
Him,  Yea.  And  He  said  unto  them,  Therefore  every 
scribe  who  hath  been  made  a  disciple  to  the  Kingdom  of 
Heaven  is  like  unto  a  man  that  is  a  householder,  which 
bringeth  forth  out  of  his  treasure  things  new  and  old." 
— Matthew  xiii.  51,  52. 


THE  PARABLE  OF  THE  HOUSE- 
HOLDER 

The  parable  of  the  householder  is  the  com- 
pletion of  the  octave.  We  have  considered 
seven  parables.  This  is  the  eighth  and  last. 
The  others  have  set  forth  the  truth  concerning 
the  history  of  the  Kingdom  of  God  in  the  pres- 
ent age.  This  parable  teaches  the  responsibility 
of  the  disciples  during  the  same  period. 

There  are  two  statements  which  have  been 
almost  monotonously  repeated  in  this  series, 
but  they  need  to  be  made  again  and  again. 
These  parables  do  not  deal  with  the  deepest 
facts  concerning  the  Kingdom  of  God,  neither 
are  they  parables  which  tell  the  whole  story  of 
that  Kingdom.  They  have  no  application  to 
the  age  which  preceded  the  first  advent  of  our 
Lord,  neither  have  they  application  to  the  age 
which  shall  succeed  His  second  advent.  They 
201 


202  THE    PARABLE    OP 

are  simply  His  setting  forth  of  truth  concern- 
ing the  process  and  history  of  the  Kingdom 
during  the  period  commencing  with  His  first 
advent  and  ending  with  His  second. 

So  these  verses,  with  the  brief  parable  which 
they  contain,  reveal  the  responsibility  of  such 
as  have  been  made  disciples  of  the  Kingdom 
in  an  age  when  Kingdom  principles  are  not 
wholly  and  absolutely  victorious. 

The  parable  follows  a  question  and  descrip- 
tion, and  must  be  considered  in  the  light 
thereof.  First  the  question,  ''Have  ye  under- 
stood all  these  things?"  When  they  answered 
Yes,  He  said,  "Therefore  every  scribe  who 
hath  been  instructed  to  the  Kingdom  of 
Heaven."  These  two  sayings  of  Jesus,  ques- 
tion and  description,  are  mutually  explanatory. 
To  understand  the  things  which  He  has  taught 
is  to  be  instructed  to  the  Kingdom  of  Heaven. 
To  be  a  scribe  instructed  to  the  Kingdom  of 
Heaven  is  to  have  received  His  teaching,  and 
to  have  understood  it. 

Let  us  examine  this  requirement.  In  the 
question,    ''Have    ye    understood    all    these 


THE    HOUBEHOLDER  203 

things?'*  the  emphasis  is  most  certainly  upon 
the  word  "understood."  They  had  heard  them 
all,  they  had  been  interested  in  them  all.  They 
had  heard  the  first  four  parables  spoken  to  the 
listening  multitudes.  They  had  heard  His  ex- 
planation of  the  first  two  of  them.  They  had 
heard  the  three  parables  spoken  to  themselves 
privately  within  the  house,  and  they  had  heard 
His  explanation  of  the  last  of  the  three.  They 
had  heard  everything,  and  their  interest  had 
been  manifested  in  the  questions  they  had 
asked. 

Now  He  asks,  "Have  ye  understood  all  these 
things?"  and  the  word  translated  ''under- 
stood" means  quite  literally  to  put  together. 
That  is,  have  you  comprehended  the  main  drift 
of  this  teaching  ?  Have  you  put  together  these 
things  so  that  you  see  what  I  have  been  at- 
tempting to  teach  you?  Notice  very  carefully 
that  our  Lord  says,  ''All  these  things."  There 
has  been  a  balance  and  proportion  in  the  teach- 
ing. He  has  been  moving  steadily  forward, 
unveiling  different  phases  of  Kingdom  history 
and  process  during  the  period.    Now  He  says, 


204  THE    PARABLE    OF 

''Have  ye  understood  all  these  things  ?"  What 
He  asks  is  whether  they  have  recognized  the 
system  of  His  teaching,  for  this  is  what  is 
necessary  in  order  to  fulfil  responsibility  in  the 
age.  When  they  answered  Him,  ''Yea,"  upon 
the  basis  of  that  answer  He  proceeded  to  de- 
clare their  responsibility.  In  doing  so  He  first 
described  their  position  in  the  words,  "a  scribe, 
instructed  to  the  Kingdom  of  Heaven." 

Our  Lord's  use  of  the  word  "scribe"  at  this 
point  necessitates  an  inquiry  as  to  its  real 
significance,  for  we  know  that  the  scribes  of 
His  day  were  bitterly  opposed  to  Him.  As  a 
class  the  scribes  began  to  exist  in  the  time  of 
Ezra.  The  word  is  used  before  the  time  of 
Ezra,  and  yet  a  careful  examination  will  show 
that  it  was  never  used  before  that  time  in  the 
sense  in  which  it  was  used  then  and  subse- 
quently. The  scribes  originally  were  chroni- 
clers, and  were  closely  associated  with  the 
military  movements  of  the  ancient  people.  But 
with  the  advent  of  Ezra  the  scribe  filled  a  new 
of^ce.  He  became,  as  in  the  case  of  Ezra  him- 
self, a  reader  and  an  expounder  of  the  law  of 


THE    HOUSEHOLDER  205 

God.  Ezra  is  the  most  conspicuous  example 
of  the  true  scribe,  he  who  stood  in  the  midst 
of  the  people  and  read  the  words  of  the  law, 
indicating  the  meaning  of  them,  not  merely  by 
elocutionary  perfection,  but  by  comment,  an- 
notation, exposition.  That  was  the  real  office 
of  the  scribe.  In  the  days  of  Jesus  they  were 
still  the  professed  exponents  of  the  law;  but 
they  then  proceeded  upon  two  principles,  that 
first  of  oral  tradition,  and  that  secondly  of  the 
interpretation  of  the  letter  with  an  almost  pain- 
ful accuracy. 

These  two  principles  had  become  the  means 
of  obscuring  rather  than  expounding  the  law. 
The  scribes  themselves  declared  that  the  oral 
tradition  for  which  they  stood  was  a  fence 
around  it.  They  had  superadded  to  the  actual 
law  of  God  the  traditions  of  the  elders,  and 
according  to  their  own  philosophy  they  had 
done  this  to  maintain  the  law  in  stricter  in- 
tegrity. But  their  tradition  had  become  a 
fence  around  the  law  in  another  sense  than  that 
intended,  for,  being  a  misinterpretation  of  the 
law,  it  had  become  that  which  shut  men  out 


206  THE    PARABLE    OP 

from  the  law.  In  the  days  of  Jesus,  therefore, 
the  scribes  were  in  constant  antagonism  to  Him 
Who  ruthlessly  swept  aside  all  their  traditions, 
and  yet  religiously  lived  within  the  sphere  of 
the  law. 

Moreover,  these  scribes  were  men  who  had 
indulged  in  literal  interpretation  to  such  an 
extent  as  to  absolutely  change  the  meaning  of 
the  law.  Devoid  of  any  understanding  of  its 
deeper  spirit,  they  had  slavishly  given  them- 
selves over  to  the  letter. 

Jesus  now  chose  the  word  which  had  been 
used  to  define  the  office  of  the  men  who  had 
led  the  opposition  to  Him  in  His  kingly  prop- 
aganda, and  He  said,  "Every  scribe  who  hath 
been  made  a  disciple  to  the  Kingdom  of 
Heaven,"  and  by  so  doing.  He  suggested  that 
His  disciples  were  to  take  hold  of  the  old  idea 
and  fulfil  it.  They  were  to  become  in  their  age 
the  interpreters  of  the  law  of  God.  He  said  in 
efTect,  You  are  to  become  the  new  scribes,  the 
interpreters  of  the  Kingdom,  those  through 
whom  the  age  will  know  the  facts  concerning 
the  government  of  God. 


THE    HOUSEHOLDER  207 

In  order  to  fulfilment  of  this  responsibility 
there  must  be  understanding  of  the  King's 
teaching  concerning  the  Kingdom  in  this  age. 
A  wrong  conception  of  its  true  meaning  and 
value  may  not  interfere  with  our  enthusiasm 
in  its  cause,  or  with  our  devotion  to  the  King; 
but  it  will  interfere  with  the  intelligence  of  our 
service,  and  thus  limit  the  sphere  of  its  action. 
What,  then,  is  the  teaching  of  these  parables 
in  broad  outline  ?  That  this  age  is  one  of  con- 
flict from  beginning  to  end;  that  it  is  char- 
acterized to  a  large  extent  by  human  failure; 
that  it  is  an  age  in  which  God  accomplishes 
definite  purposes;  that,  as  to  the  heavenly  side, 
it  is  an  age  from  which  a  people  is  gathered  out 
to  serve  God  throughout  the  countless  ages  that 
are  to  come  as  the  revealers  of  His  grace  and 
His  love;  that,  as  to  the  earthly  value,  it  is  an 
age  that  prepares  for  the  next  and  makes  pos- 
sible all  that  the  King  will  do  therein.  These 
truths  must  be  understood.  If  we  fail  to  per- 
ceive them,  then  our  service  may  be  sustained, 
but  it  will  surely  be  defective.  I  pity  from 
the  depth  of  my  heart  the  man  who  is  labour- 


THE    PARABLE    OF 

ing  to-day  in  the  hope  that  this  age  is  to  be 
consummated  by  the  conversion  of  the  world. 
I  cannot  personally  understand  where  he  gath- 
ers his  comfort  when  he  sees  how  heathendom 
is  increasing  proportionately  with  every  decade 
as  it  passes,  as  he  sees  that  even  in  so-called 
Christian  countries,  notwithstanding  all  the 
light  that  has  come,  and  is  still  coming,  not- 
withstanding all  the  undoubted  progress  that  is 
being  made,  there  is  also  along  with  the  prog- 
ress, retrogression;  along  with  the  increasing 
light,  increasing  darkness;  side  by  side  with  a 
new  sense  of  the  Christ  spirit  in  the  age,  an 
ever  new  revolt  against  that  spirit.  For  my 
own  heart,  at  least,  service  would  be  impossible 
if  I  believed  that  this  age  were  all.  But  I 
realize  through  the  teaching  of  Jesus  in  these 
parables  that  this  is  an  age  of  conflict,  of  con- 
flict stern  and  necessary,  when  the  enemy  sows 
his  darnel  by  the  wheat,  and  that  I  have  no 
right  to  attempt  to  uproot  the  darnel  until  the 
end  of  the  age.  Then  as  I  understand  this  to 
be  an  age  in  which  God  is  gathering  out  for 
Himself  a  people  for  heavenly  service,  and  is 


THE    HOUSEHOLDEK  209 

preparing  by  all  the  processes  of  the  years  for 
that  larger  age  of  the  Kingdom  on  earth  that 
is  to  follow,  I  can  take  up  my  day's  work,  and 
do  it  with  full  purpose  of  heart,  knowing  that 
the  world's  great  hope  is  the  advent  of  the 
King,  with  the  rule  of  the  rod  of  iron,  when 
the  opportunity  of  righteousness  will  come  in 
His  own  personal  government  of  the  affairs 
of  men. 

Jesus  declared  that  it  is  the  scribe  instructed 
to  the  Kingdom  of  Heaven,  according  to  the 
teaching  which  He  had  Himself  given,  who  is 
to  fulfil  the  responsibility  which  is  then  de- 
scribed. 

Now  let  us  turn  to  that  responsibility.  The 
picture  is  a  very  simple  one,  and  yet  again, 
wholly  eastern.  We  pause  and  look  at  it  in 
its  separation  from  the  teaching.  It  is  the  pic- 
ture of  a  householder — an  eastern  householder, 
I  pray  you  remember.  You  cannot  interpret 
this  parable  by  anything  you  know  of  the 
householder  in  this  country,  or  in  any  western 
land.  One  must  go  back  to  the  East.  The 
word  translated  "householder"  might  be  trans- 


210  THE    PAKABLE    OF 

lated  with  a  bluntness  that  perhaps  is  unfair, 
and  yet  perfectly  accurate,  as  the  house-despot. 
All  our  western  mind  is  in  revolt  at  the  very 
use  of  the  word,  but  despotism  is  not  necessarily 
cruel;  it  may  be  gracious,  tender,  kind,  benefi- 
cent. In  the  East  the  householder  was  one  in 
absolute  authority,  a  king,  a  shepherd,  a  father. 
And  so  the  figure  employed  is  that  of  a  despot 
apart  from  the  undesirable  significance  of 
the  term.  In  this  word  "householder,"  then, 
there  is  present  the  thought  of  loving  yet 
absolute  authority.  Christ  often  used  the 
word,  and  almost  invariably  concerning 
Himself. 

Then  pass  to  another  word  in  the  picture. 
"Which  bringeth  forth  out  of  his  treasure/' 
Here  we  have  the  same  word  for  "treasure" 
that  occurred  in  the  manifesto  of  the  King. 
There  are  two  distinct  Greek  words  for  treas- 
ure—each indicating  a  certain  value.  This  is 
the  word  that  indicates  treasure  laid  horizon- 
tally. It  is  wealth,  treasure  laid  up,  possessed. 
The  treasure  possessed  is  that  of  the  truth  con- 
cerning the  Kingdom. 


THE    HOUSEHOLDER  211 

Then  take  the  next  phrase,  the  householder 
brings  forth  out  of  his  treasure  ''things  new 
and  old."  ''New"  does  not  mean  young. 
"Old"  does  not  mean  worn  out.  The  phrase 
means  things  fresh  and  ancient,  rather  than 
things  young  and  worn  out. 

Again,  the  householder  brings  forth  out  of 
his  treasure  things  fresh,  ancient.  "Bringeth 
forth,"  literally,  flingeth  forth,  scattereth 
around.  There  is  the  thought  of  prodigality 
in  giving,  of  great  generosity  and  bountiful- 
ness. 

The  whole  picture  is  one  of  an  eastern 
householder,  the  master  of  a  house,  an  au- 
thoritative ruler,  lavishly  scattering  out  of  his 
wealth  the  things  which  are  necessary  for  the 
supply  and  government  of  his  household. 
Those  who  are  gifted  with  imagination  see  the 
picture.  It  is  full  of  colour.  No  neutral  tints 
are  in  it.  The  eastern  house-master,  house- 
despot,  out  of  his  treasure  scattering  upon  his 
people,  upon  the  children  of  his  family,  the 
sheep  of  his  flock,  the  subjects  of  his  kingdom, 
all  that  they  need.     It  is  the  attitude  of  real 


212  THE    PAEABLE    OP 

kingship,  and  real  fatherhood,  and  real  shep- 
herdhood. 

Having  looked  at  the  picture  thus  we  are 
filled  with  astonishment  at  it,  for  Jesus  said 
that  it  represented  the  position  His  disciple 
is  to  occupy  throughout  all  this  period. 

What,  then,  does  it  mean?  First,  that  His 
disciples  are  the  householders  of  this  age. 
Moreover,  in  proportion  as  they  bring  out  of 
their  treasure-house,  which  is  His  treasure- 
house,  things  new  and  old,  they  are  the  rulers 
of  the  age. 

I  am  increasingly  impressed  with  the  fact 
that  some  of  the  simplest  things  Jesus  said  are 
the  most  startling  and  sublime.  At  the  end  of 
the  parables  of  the  Kingdom,  with  stately  and 
kingly  dignity  the  King  sweeps  aside  all  the 
thrones  of  earth,  and  all  the  governments  of 
men,  and  He  says  for  purposes  of  God's  great 
and  only  Kingdom  throughout  this  age,  the 
ruling  authority  is  to  be  vested  in  the  disciples 
who  are  instructed  to  the  Kingdom  of  Heaven. 
Every  scribe  is  to  be  like  a  householder.  He 
had  spoken  of  Himself  as  the  great  House- 


THE    HOUSEHOLDER  213 

holder.  These  disciples  are  now  to  represent 
Him,  and  take  His  place  in  the  world,  and 
what  He  has  done  they  are  to  do.  According 
to  the  suggestion  of  this  wonderful,  brief,  final 
parable,  the  disciples  of  the  Christ,  instructed 
to  the  Kingdom,  are  the  ruling  class  in  the  cen- 
turies as  they  come  and  go,  until  the  rejected 
King  Himself  appears  again  and  assumes  the 
government.  They  are  to  bring  out  of  the 
treasure-house,  out  of  the  wealth  that  is  theirs, 
"things  new  and  old." 

Let  us  consider  a  little  more  closely  this  ex- 
pression, one  of  the  most  remarkable  of  the 
whole  paragraph.  "Things  new  and  old." 
Not,  if  I  understand  the  Lord  aright,  new 
things  and  old  things;  but  "things  new  and 
old."  The  same  things,  new  and  old.  Not 
one  set  of  things  that  are  new,  and  another  set 
of  things  that  are  old.  That  would  be  opposi- 
tion, antagonism,  mutual  destruction.  Christ 
has  said  that  no  man  puts  new  wine  into  old 
wine-skins.  There  you  have  the  opposition  of 
a  new  thing  to  an  old  thing,  and  that  is  destruc- 
tion.   That  is  not  the  thought  here.    "Things 


214  THE    PARABLE    OF 

new  and  old."  The  principle  is  old,  the  appli- 
cation is  new.  The  root  is  old,  the  blossom 
and  the  fruit  are  new,  and  the  two  are  neces- 
sary to  growth  and  development.  Destroy  the 
old  root  in  your  garden,  and  there  will  be  no 
new  blossoms  in  spring-time,  nor  fruit  in  au- 
tumn. But  the  absence  of  the  new  denies 
the  life  of  the  old.  If  there  be  no  bud,  no 
blossom,  and  no  fruit,  then  I  take  it  the  tree 
is  dead,  and  may  be  destroyed.  ''Things  new 
and  old" — old  in  their  unseen  and  eternal 
principles;  new  in  their  seen  and  temporal 
practice.  The  interrelation  is  for  evermore  a 
test.  The  new  thing  which  contradicts  the 
old  is  always  false.  The  old  thing  that  has 
no  fresh  and  new  production  is  dead,  and  the 
sooner  we  are  rid  of  it  the  better.  "Things 
new  and  old"  said  Jesus.  You  are  going  to 
represent  Me,  the  great  Householder.  You  are 
to  be  the  householders  of  this  age.  It  was  as 
though  He  had  said,  I  depose  kings  and  rulers 
and  governors.  They  will  sit  upon  their 
thrones,  and  pass  their  measures,  and  imagine 
they  are  manipulating  the  age.    That  is  not  so. 


THE    HOUSEHOLDER  ^15 

You  are  to  be  the  householders.  You  are  to  be 
the  masters  of  the  age,  not  with  the  mastery 
which  is  apparent  always,  but  with  the  mastery 
which  prepares  for  Me.  You  are  to  be  My 
householders,  and  you  are  to  do  your  work  by 
bringing  out  of  your  treasure-house,  out  of  this 
infinite  wealth  that  is  Mine,  and  which  I  make 
yours,  "things  new  and  old." 

That  is  the  perpetual  responsibility  of  such 
as  understand  the  way  of  His  Kingdom. 
Surely  Russell  Lowell  had  this  great  thought 
in  mind,  subconsciously  or  not,  when  he  wrote : 

New  occasions  teach  new  duties,   Time  makes  ancient 

good  uncouth; 
They  must  upward  still  and  onward,  who  would  keep 

abreast  of  truth ; 
Lo  before  us  gleam  her  camp  fires!  we  ourselves  must 

pilgrims  be; 
Launch  our  Mayflower,  and  steer  boldly  through  the 

desperate  winter  sea, 
Nor    attempt    the    Future's    portal    with    the    Past's 

blood-rusted  key. 

That  is  a  plea  for  the  new;  yes,  but  if  you 
try  the  future's  portal  with  any  other  key  than 
the  key  that  hangs  upon  the  girdle  of  the  King, 


S16  THE    PARABLE    OF 

you  will  never  unlock  it.  If  you  forget  that  the 
new  door  can  only  be  opened  by  the  old  prin- 
ciple, that  door  will  never  be  opened.  We  are 
to  come  into  every  successive  decade  or  century 
with  things  new  and  old,  living  messages  to  the 
age  in  which  we  live;  living  application  of  the 
truth  which  God  has  eternally  enthroned.  Be- 
cause the  Kingdom  of  God  is  old,  ancient  as 
God  is  ancient,  it  has  ever  new  applications. 
Methods,  manners,  men  may  change;  but  this 
underlying  principle  of  Divine  government 
abideth,  rooted  in  the  nature  of  God,  and  it 
blossoms  fresh  in  every  generation  among  the 
sons  of  men. 

Now  said  Jesus  to  these  disciples.  Have  you 
understood  these  things?  Have  you  under- 
stood the  underlying  principle?  Have  you 
understood  My  teaching  concerning  the  age  in 
which  you  are  to  serve?  Have  you  put  My 
measurements  upon  this  age?  Do  you  under- 
stand what  God  is  doing?  Do  you  under- 
stand these  things — the  things  of  the  Divine 
purpose,  of  the  Divine  programme,  of  the 
Divine  plan  ?    And  upon  the  basis  of  the  gleam 


THE    HOUSEHOLDER  217 

of  light  that  had  come  to  them,  upon  the  basis 
of  the  fact  that  if  at  least  they  did  not  perfectly 
understand,  they  yet  belonged  to  Him  Who  held 
the  key  of  knowledge  as  well  as  the  key  of 
power:  upon  that  basis  He  said,  Then  go  out 
into  this  age  and  be  householders,  bringing 
out  of  your  treasure  things  new  and  old.  In- 
sist wherever  you  are  upon  the  old  and  abiding, 
but  make  application  of  it  to  the  new  and  the 
transient.     ''New  and  old/' 

That  is  the  work  of  the  people  of  the  King- 
dom of  God  in  this  age.  The  old  for  us  is  the 
Kingdom  of  God.  Will  not  somebody  give  me 
another  phrase?  How  shall  I  find  another? 
There  is  no  better,  but  we  have  taken  these 
Bible  phrases,  and  robbed  them  of  their  virtue 
by  repetition.  What  is  the  Kingdom  of  God? 
The  Kingship  of  God.  The  fact  that  He  is 
King,  and  that  amid  the  clash  of  devilish  at- 
tack His  throne  has  never  trembled  for  a  mo- 
ment. That  is  the  old,  the  Kingship  of  God. 
And  what  is  the  new  ?  The  application  of  that 
eternal  verity  to  the  age  in  which  we  live,  to 
personal  life,  to  social  life,  to  national  life. 


218  THE    PARABLE    OF 

Our  business,  as  we  are  disciples  instructed  to 
the  Kingdom,  is  to  make  this  appHcation. 

May  I  illustrate  what  I  mean  by  a  protest? 
I  am  often  told  to-day — told  seriously — that 
what  the  Church  of  God  needs  in  order  to  suc- 
ceed is  to  catch  the  spirit  of  the  age.  I  reply 
that  the  Church  of  God  only  succeeds  in  pro- 
portion as  she  corrects  the  spirit  of  the  age. 
I  am  told  that  if  I  am  to  succeed  in  Christian 
work,  I  must  adopt  the  methods  of  the  world. 
Then,  by  God's  help,  I  will  be  defeated.  We 
are  not  in  the  world  to  borrow  the  world's 
maxims  and  spirit.  The  world  would  crucify 
Jesus  as  readily  now  as  nineteen  centuries  ago. 
The  Cross  is  no  more  popular  in  the  world 
to-day  then  when  men  nailed  Him  to  it  on  the 
green  hill  outside  the  city  gate  nineteen  cen- 
turies ago.  The  Church  of  Christ  is  for  ever- 
more to  stand  for  Him  as  King,  and  for  that 
infinite  Kingdom  which  He  represents;  and 
as  she  does  it,  as  the  disciples  instructed  to  the 
Kingdom  bring  forth  things  new  and  old  from 
the  treasure-house,  that  and  only  that  will  save 
individuals  and  society  and  the  nation. 


THE    HOUSEHOLDER  219 

Do  you  not  believe  that  here  is  great  need 
for  such  bringing  forth  of  things  new  and  old  ? 
Do  you  not  recognize  in  this  hour  in  which  we 
live,  we  need  to  emphasize  supremely  the  King- 
dom of  God?  This  is  a  matter  I  am  almost 
afraid  to  put  into  words  lest  I  should  be  mis- 
understood. Sometimes  I  think  we  have  been  a 
little  in  danger,  not  of  saying  too  much  about 
Jesus,  but  of  saying  all  too  little  about  God. 
There  are  times  when  it  seems  to  me  that  in 
our  misinterpretation  of  Jesus  as  gentle  and 
pitiful  and  tolerant,  we  have  imagined  that  all 
we  have  to  do  to  make  a  man  a  Christian  is  to 
sing  him  some  sweet,  soft  nothing,  set  to  dance 
music.  We  need  to  get  back  to  the  sterner 
teachings  of  our  Puritan  fathers,  or  back  to 
the  rugged  magnificence  of  the  old  Hebrew 
prophets.  If  we  are  householders  true  to  the 
great  Master-Householder,  we  shall  insist  upon 
the  Kingdom  of  God,  and  we  shall  never  say  to 
men.  It  does  not  matter,  you  are  doing  your 
best,  you  are  struggling  through.  We  shall 
say  to  men.  You  will  be  for  ever  lost,  unless 
you  submit  to  the  throne.    Yes,  salvation  is  by 


220  THE    PARABLE    OP 

the  Cross,  but  the  Cross  is  the  place  of  the 
throne,  and  these  old  eternal  truths  are  the 
things  we  need  to  recognize  and  preach. 

We  have  been  playing  with  the  surf  that 
beats  upon  the  shore.  We  need  to  get  down  to 
the  depths  and  profundities  of  faith,  the  ever- 
lasting rock  upon  which  our  feet  rest.  Things 
old,  not  worn  out,  but  ancient  and  honourable 
things  that  are  grey  with  the  majesty  of  the 
eternities.  These  are  the  things  that  we  stand 
in  the  world  for;  and  in  proportion  as  we  stand 
for  these,  and  make  application  of  them  to 
personal  life,  and  social  life,  and  national  life, 
in  that  proportion  we  become  for  our  absent 
and  Hidden  King,  Who  presently  is  to  be  re- 
vealed in  glory,  the  true  householders. 

Yet,  brethren,  what  gracious  gifts  there  are 
in  our  hands,  what  treasures  we  have  for  this 
age  that  none  other  has,  if  we  but  understand 
our  position!  Never  must  we  forget  the 
throne.  But,  thank  God,  it  is  also  the  throne 
of  grace,  and  when  we,  in  the  name  of  God 
Almighty,  have  uttered  our  fiercest  denuncia- 
tion against  the  sin  of  the  age,  we  can  come  to 


THE    HOUSEHOLDER  221 

the  man  who  is  scorched  with  the  Hghtning  of 
denunciation,  and  bring  him  to  the  heahng  of 
the  Cross,  and  the  cleansing  blood,  and  the 
power  of  the  Spirit. 

We  come,  we  come,  the  children  of  salvation, 
Treasures  all  countless  in  our  hands  we  bring. 

We  are  to  bring  out  of  our  treasure-house 
things  new  and  old,  and  give  them  to  the  age. 
Then  we  need  not  be  at  all  anxious  about  statis- 
tics. It  does  not  matter  whether  one,  or  a  hun- 
dred, or  a  thousand  names  are  taken.  The 
thing  that  matters  is  that  we  have  brought  out 
the  old  thing  in  its  new  meaning  and  new  appli- 
cation. Presently  the  King  will  come,  and  will 
sever  the  wicked  from  the  good,  and  to  the 
old  and  weary  world  will  come  at  last  its  great 
opportunity. 


DATE  DUE 


CAYLORO 


PRINTEOINU    S    A 


